Lady Thatcher, the Baroness Thatcher, has crossed the bar today. The world has lost a great politician, a great lady, and a great conservative. This thread might seem a bit misplaced on the gCaptain forum, even if it is in “scuttlebutt”, but let me make an appeal for why it isn’t. I have commented in other threads about the proliferation of conservatives in the maritime industry as a whole, and if that is the case, this date is indeed a sad one for us all. It has been sad that if Ronald Reagan and Barry Goldwater are the fathers of modern conservatism, Margaret Thatcher is undoubtedly its mother. We may be under a regime of a different color at the moment, but for whatever there is left of conservatism today we can thank, at least in part, the Baroness.
She orchestrated the largest mobilization of the British Merchant Navy in post-war history for the Falklands conflict, totaling 62 ships. Both as a politician and as a person who came from nothing and found success in life she was a friend to merchant mariners the world over. She believed in pulling one’s self up by one’s bootstraps, which I still believe to be the credo of the American merchant fleet, whatever its condition might be today.
This evening my roommate and I drank a toast of scotch, one of Maggie’s favorites, in her memory. I encourage conservatives and merchant mariners everywhere who feel even a small sense of loss on this sad day to do the same.
Here’s lookin’ at you, Baroness