"They are casting their problems at society. And, you know, there's no such thing as society. There are individual men and women and there are families. And no government can do anything except through people, and people must look after themselves first. It is our duty to look after ourselves and then, also, to look after our neighbours." – in an interview in Women's Own in 1987 Margaret Thatcher
"In this present crisis, government is not the solution to our problem; government is the problem." January 20, 1981: Ronald Reagan's Inaugural Address.
Context- Noun The circumstances that form the setting for an event, statement, or idea, and in terms of which it can be fully understood and assessed.
Quote- Verb Repeat or copy out (a group of words from a text or speech), typically with an indication that one is not the original author or speaker.
Quoting out of context - To quote out of context is to remove a passage from its surrounding matter (or historical context) in such a way as to distort its meaning.
It seems quite the rage these days to develop a political movement and rip off quotes of famous people and pretend that the originator of the quote is ideologically in lockstep with a movement that has arisen decades after the original quote was made. If you read the entire interview with Maggie http://www.margaretthatcher.org/document/106689 you find a much bigger portrait of what is important to her. While she was indeed critical of a government that had become overly indulgent with social programs, she was also supportive of government sponsored programs to help young people start a business. She was not espousing a view that government WAS the problem.
The problems that Reagan and Thatcher both faced were drastically different then the problems we face today. Industries had not evolved. Taxes were very high. Regulations were very high. In comparison to the historical context those quotes were made in, none of these things are comparable today. What Thatcher and Reagan both faced was an extreme as a result of a shift that had occurred over time. What both said in response to the problems of their day has now been taken to ridiculous extremes of their own and stretched to the present day as solutions to problems that do not match the 1980's. Nor, I might add, do the solutions match the outlook of a majority of Americans.
Today's libertarians, IMO, are essentially just anarchists. Outwardly, they identify with the Christian religion, with freedom from persecution, with free markets on so on. In practice, what I believe they really want is to have the protection and benefits of our political system without having to pay for it. In contrast, the majority of America, IMO, does not wish to see a government that does nothing but collect a tiny bit of taxes to pay for the military. I do believe a majority of America does find our current governing system to be dysfunctional, just as I believe Reagan and Maggie did in their day. But, instead of actually making government accountable to them, we are continuing down a path of blocking the government from attempting to do anything a majority of the people want. In a true context of what Maggie's and Ronnie's bigger world view was, I strongly doubt either espoused a scorched earth point of view that so many have toward government today.
Dodd-Frank is an absolute freaking joke. As for the rest, again William, we are no where near as regulated as we were at the end of the 1970's. You are correct, Libertarians are not controlling as much as the DEMO's and RINO's. Time will tell if they get that chance.
Due to our education system that refuses to educate many of our youth could not even start to comprehend what that statement means.
ReplyDelete"They are casting their problems at society. And, you know, there's no such thing as society. There are individual men and women and there are families. And no government can do anything except through people, and people must look after themselves first. It is our duty to look after ourselves and then, also, to look after our neighbours." – in an interview in Women's Own in 1987
ReplyDeleteMargaret Thatcher
"In this present crisis, government is not the solution to our problem; government is the problem."
ReplyDeleteJanuary 20, 1981: Ronald Reagan's Inaugural Address.
Context- Noun
ReplyDeleteThe circumstances that form the setting for an event, statement, or idea, and in terms of which it can be fully understood and assessed.
Quote- Verb
Repeat or copy out (a group of words from a text or speech), typically with an indication that one is not the original author or speaker.
Quoting out of context - To quote out of context is to remove a passage from its surrounding matter (or historical context) in such a way as to distort its meaning.
It seems quite the rage these days to develop a political movement and rip off quotes of famous people and pretend that the originator of the quote is ideologically in lockstep with a movement that has arisen decades after the original quote was made. If you read the entire interview with Maggie http://www.margaretthatcher.org/document/106689 you find a much bigger portrait of what is important to her. While she was indeed critical of a government that had become overly indulgent with social programs, she was also supportive of government sponsored programs to help young people start a business. She was not espousing a view that government WAS the problem.
The problems that Reagan and Thatcher both faced were drastically different then the problems we face today. Industries had not evolved. Taxes were very high. Regulations were very high. In comparison to the historical context those quotes were made in, none of these things are comparable today. What Thatcher and Reagan both faced was an extreme as a result of a shift that had occurred over time. What both said in response to the problems of their day has now been taken to ridiculous extremes of their own and stretched to the present day as solutions to problems that do not match the 1980's. Nor, I might add, do the solutions match the outlook of a majority of Americans.
Today's libertarians, IMO, are essentially just anarchists. Outwardly, they identify with the Christian religion, with freedom from persecution, with free markets on so on. In practice, what I believe they really want is to have the protection and benefits of our political system without having to pay for it. In contrast, the majority of America, IMO, does not wish to see a government that does nothing but collect a tiny bit of taxes to pay for the military. I do believe a majority of America does find our current governing system to be dysfunctional, just as I believe Reagan and Maggie did in their day. But, instead of actually making government accountable to them, we are continuing down a path of blocking the government from attempting to do anything a majority of the people want. In a true context of what Maggie's and Ronnie's bigger world view was, I strongly doubt either espoused a scorched earth point of view that so many have toward government today.
Under regulated?
Delete3.7T Spending
1T/year deficit
Dodd-Frank
Obamacare
EPA
DOE
HUD
Libertarians are not in power.
DEMO'S and RINO'S are in power.
Dodd-Frank is an absolute freaking joke. As for the rest, again William, we are no where near as regulated as we were at the end of the 1970's. You are correct, Libertarians are not controlling as much as the DEMO's and RINO's. Time will tell if they get that chance.
Delete