Thursday, October 20, former United Kingdom Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher will be honored with the 2011 Faith & Freedom Award in Grand Rapids. The award will be accepted by former Thatcher adviser John O’Sullivan at Acton’s 21st Annual Dinner. O’Sullivan is currently vice president and executive editor Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty. Still a close friend of Thatcher, O’Sullivan defined the essence of ‘Thatcherism:’
Thatcherism is a combination of economic liberty, traditional conservative and Christian values, British patriotism, and a strong attachment to the United States and other like-minded countries in the English speaking world. In her intellectual life – her occasional lectures, her reading, her participation in seminars – she has been extremely consistent in her attachment to these ideas.
Religion & Liberty interviewed Thatcher in 1992. For a closer look at her special friendship with President Ronald Reagan, take a look at my review of Nicholas Wapshott’s Ronald Reagan and Margaret Thatcher: A Political Marriage published in 2008.
“The Iron Lady” title was bestowed upon her upon by the Soviet Army newspaper Red Star in 1976 because of her piercing denouncement of communism. Thatcher, who of course loved it, allowed the moniker to stick. Below is a superb video of Thatcher sweeping away the socialist state.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oK3eP9rh4So
