WASHINGTON — On the occasion of Lady Thatcher’s death, there is widespread admiration and even applause for her premiership, but surely there ought to be gratitude too. After all, without her — and without President Ronald Reagan — the poor would be much poorer and without hope of bettering themselves. That was socialism’s notion of equal opportunity. Moreover, we might all be living in a world devastated by nuclear war. I do not know what the conditions of that world would be, but I am grateful not to live in it and my guess is that the vast majority of inhabitants of the former Soviet Union and its satellites are grateful too.
Of course, there are some who wish that Lady Thatcher had never lived. They think that the poor are poor because of her (and of Reagan), and as for the post-Cold War world, I have not a clue as to what they think. Maybe they attribute today’s peace among the world’s nuclear powers to Mikhail Gorbachev or to the Tooth Fairy. They certainly do not thank Lady Thatcher or that stupid actor.
