Margaret Thatcher is No Heroine - Rather, Patriarchy in a Skirt

This week you are no doubt hearing everywhere about how Margaret Thatcher is the pride of England. How as a woman she rose to heights no one imagined might be possible. Starting out the daughter of a shop keeper, living over their store, she fought through the ranks to become Prime Minister of England for over a decade. And of course we are all sorry for her passing and offer our respects as we would with most anyone that passes on. However, let us examine her legacy and what her leadership actually meant to the people of England.

I’d invite you to check in with your friends in England. See if they’re mourning her passing or if like my friends across the pond, they more likely remember the suffering she caused them. A Conservative and friend of former President Ronald Reagan, she was responsible, as was he, for beginning to unravel the social safety net in their countries.  She believed there is no “society” there are only individuals. Sound familiar? The Ayn Rand - Paul Ryan - Tea Party “rugged individualism” mantra that would have half the country living under a bridge, Social Security cut below a living wage and Medicare a voucher program that would buy nothing. Oh - and let's not forget, all the benefits of our tax dollars helping the 1% and corporations!

Pull up the old videos. They’re available on the internet. See the riots in the streets that occurred when she went after labor and working class people. She was also anti-gay and on the wrong side of history. She and Reagan ushered in a tone of “greed is good” rather than the idea leaders are in office to see to the common good and general welfare of the people. She, like Reagan, was for corporate power, not the welfare of the workers, though both may have couched their language to dupe the public into thinking the changes they were instituting were actually good for them. The truth is the result of their leadership has led us here in the United States and in England to being two countries with the largest income disparity among it’s people - which adversely affects women and children most severely. Margaret Thatcher eventually paid the price for her desire for more austerity and privatization. Her own party threw her out of office because the people were in revolt.

So when you remember Margaret Thatcher, and you hear how she was a pioneer for women, well, that might be, in a sense. But would you want Sarah Palin or Michele Bachman leading the country simply because we share the same genitalia? Of course not. It’s the policies of a politician we care about. We care about how their beliefs affect society and culture and real people's lives.  Are their policies selfish or immoral?  Do they care about everyone or just a select few?  Do they believe greed is good and anyone not rich, well, maybe they’re just lazy and don’t work hard enough so they turn a blind eye to the struggle and suffering rather than understand playing field is not level and we all do better when all our boats float.

Margaret Thatcher would probably be right at home with Right Wing Conservatives and Tea Party folks. I can see her tipping a cup with Mitt Romney, Rush Limbaugh and Paul Ryan. No wonder she despised liberals, who truly are on the side of people, workers, women and the common good.