It is often said, “Love and death are the eternal topics of mankind.”
Some say, “Love is the suffering of an inch of love and an inch of ashes.”
Others say, “Love is, not caring about the longevity of the day, but only caring about having had it.”
Some people even said, “Love is the witness of the long years spent in the firewood and salt, whether old, sick or dead, companionship is the longest confession.”
However, these sea and stone like love vows, if the lack of a Medicine, it is just the hormonal effect of the bravado.
This medicine is the “three views”.
In fact, the real love, not by touching, the pursuit can get, but by attraction.
The two people who are attracted to each other can communicate deeply into their souls, not by the same topic, not by the same logic, but by the same three views.
That’s why some people would say, “Two people with similar three views, together for a long Time, even the appearance will be similar.” It can be seen that the relationship between people begins with the appearance and ends with the three views.
In fact, this is true not only for love and friendship, but also even in the political sphere where pragmatism and interests are paramount.
In the international political arena of the 20th century, there was such a pair of “spiritual couple”, and the various past events between the two were called “political Marriage“, they are the former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher and the former U.S. President Ronald Reagan.
Mrs. Thatcher and Reagan first met in 1975.
At that time, Margaret Thatcher was the leader of the British Conservative Party, but politicians in the Palace of Westminster in London did not buy her; while Reagan, as the presidential candidate of the American Republican Party, was despised by the political elite in Washington for his past experience as a movie actor.
It was the “outsider” status that made the two meet at once. According to the memories of those present, “they chatted like long-time friends and became very close”.
Years later, when the two men were at the helm of the United Kingdom and the United States, creating a powerful “liberal storm” in the Western world, it dawned on people why they had “fallen in love at first sight” – Hayek and Frye. -It was thinkers like Hayek, Friedman and Kirk who shaped their shared values and political philosophy.
Thatcher’s reforms and Reagan’s revolution.
The triumph of Hayek’s free market
In 1979, Margaret Thatcher took over a “sick Britain” that was dying of economic stagnation.
Mrs. Thatcher prescribed three remedies for the “British disease” –
The marketization of those large and loss-making British state-owned enterprises.
The company’s main business is to reduce the tax burden on the private sector and cut welfare policies and public spending.
The company’s main goal is to restore production by cracking down on uncontrolled strikes.
When “scraping the bones” entered deep water, Mrs. Thatcher broke out into a heated argument with her cabinet colleagues, and in the heat of the moment, she took a copy of Hayek’s “Charter of Liberty” out of her bag and put it in front of her cabinet members, saying, “This is what we should believe in!”
In the end, Mrs. Thatcher’s remedy was so effective that the British economy was revitalized and the “British disease” that had plagued the country for decades was basically cured.
In 1989, on the occasion of Hayek’s 90th birthday, Margaret Thatcher wrote to him: “As of this week, I have been Prime Minister for ten years, and many people have spoken very generously about the achievements of our government. Your writings and reflections have been extremely important in guiding and enlightening us, and you are a great credit to us.”
While Margaret Thatcher’s reforms were in full swing in the British Isles, across the pond in the United States, the Reagan Revolution was changing the fortunes of the superpower.
In the 1980s, President Reagan told members of Congress that the U.S. government could not solve the problem, but the government itself was the problem.
Before the Reagan Revolution, the U.S. economy had the same disease as the U.K., namely, excessive government intervention in the economy, inefficiency, wasteful capacity, deficits, and stagflation.
In 1981, Reagan met with Hayek at the White House. With this, the Reagan Revolution and Thatcher’s reforms began to share a common medicine: Hayek’s economic liberalism. To return the freedom and economic rights of the people to the people, and to replace government intervention and regulation with free competition.
Soon, the Reagan Revolution greatly contributed to the recovery of the American economy, thus laying the foundation for the victory over the Soviet Union. With the magic of market forces, technological advances represented by the electronic computer, the rapid changes, the unprecedented prosperity of the U.S. domestic market, and the free flow of global capital, the Reagan Revolution pushed the United States once again to the pinnacle of world civilization as never before.
The reform programs of Reagan and Margaret Thatcher, surprisingly consistent, stemmed from a common ideological source – Hayek’s liberalism, and a common value – belief in the free market.
The same values in their souls allowed their relationship to transcend politics and develop in a more intimate direction. In private, they even referred to each other as “Rie” and “Margaret”.
In July 1981, the G-7 Summit was held in Ottawa. At the meeting, Reagan looked impatient when other leaders spoke.
He scribbled on pieces of paper with a fountain pen. After Reagan left the meeting, Mrs. Thatcher quietly collected the pieces of paper. Mrs. Thatcher recalled, “I put the paper in my papers, took it back to 10 Downing Street and kept it in my house. I was fascinated by this graffiti work by Reagan.”
Reagan was even more “affectionate” toward Mrs. Thatcher. Once, on her birthday, Reagan said in his congratulatory speech, “It has been an honor to share so many special moments in your Life!” Many people exclaimed, “That tone was like a husband to his wife.
And when Mrs. Thatcher was under pressure at Home with strikes and the like, Reagan would also send timely support: “Thinking of you, I’m as sure as ever that you’ll get over it.”
The spirit of conservatism.
Reagan and Thatcher’s soulful bond of values
As politicians, there was not only warmth and friendship between Reagan and Margaret Thatcher, but also quarrels between the two, like a husband and wife, when there was a conflict of interest between the two countries.
The first quarrel between the two stemmed from the fact that the United States was going to give technical assistance to some countries for the purpose of confronting the Soviet Union, but this practice endangered the interests of British companies. Mrs. Thatcher thus harangued Reagan on the phone.
But after listening to her rant, Reagan gently but pointedly reminded her that “America is the boss of the free world!” Mrs. Thatcher was speechless at this comment.
However, the “Iron Lady” is not an easy person to give in.
In 1982, Britain and Argentina went to war over the ownership of the Malvinas Islands. This is the famous “Anglo-Argentine War”.
Margaret Thatcher thought that the United States would support her. But Reagan told her on the phone, “It’s hard for me, too, because Congress won’t approve of supporting Britain.” And told her to call off the military action. Mrs. Thatcher was so shocked that she adamantly refused to call it off and even slammed the phone.
During a 1985 meeting, Mrs. Thatcher ranted and raved to Reagan and his aides in Washington. One American who was there later recalled.
“She was a great speaker, not a good listener.”
At times, Reagan could only grumble hopelessly about Mrs. Thatcher in private. Although they often quarreled, they would calm down in the end.
Reagan and Margaret Thatcher were like a married couple, which stemmed from their shared belief in the value of “conservative spirit,” which became the ballast of their relationship.
The spirit of conservatism, in short, is to conserve the most precious freedoms, wisdom and virtues of human society, and to oppose radical revolutions that would change the world. Transcendental moral order, respect for the diversity of society, and prudence are the basic principles of conservatism.
The pioneer of conservatism was the British thinker Edmund Burke, while the revival of conservatism in the 20th century benefited from Russell Kirk, the father of American conservatism, whose The Spirit of Conservatism was the desk book of Reagan and Margaret Thatcher.
In 1989, on the bicentennial of the French Revolution, leaders congratulated each other and intellectuals competed to write articles to commemorate the occasion.
But Margaret Thatcher, a conservative politician, went so far as to share Edmund Burke’s views. Asked by a reporter what she thought of the French Revolution, Mrs. Thatcher replied.
“The French Revolution? We in Britain have been digesting the bitter fruits of its legacy for the last 200 years so far. We don’t want such a Revolution. What the French Revolution brought was a tall pile of severed corpses, with a dictator at the top of the pile. Every country that has tried to replicate the French Revolution has left behind nothing but bloodshed and a dictator on high.”
Reagan, the first American president to declare himself a “conservative,” argued that it was Kirk’s “The Spirit of Conservatism” that helped him win the 1980 presidential election, an unprecedented political victory for conservatism.
This victory was not only a political victory, but also a victory of ideas. At the 1981 Conservative Political Action Conference, President Reagan bluntly declared: Fellow conservatives, our time has come!
In 1989, President Reagan honored Mr. Russell Kirk with the Presidential Citizenship Award, in recognition of this outstanding conservative thinker.
Reagan’s funeral.
Soul mate delivers his eulogy
In 1994, at the age of 83, Reagan developed Alzheimer’s disease. Knowing that the disease could only get worse and not better, Reagan wrote to Margaret Thatcher, hoping that she would one day attend his funeral. It is said that after reading this letter, Mrs. Thatcher was able to hold back her grief and agreed to Reagan’s request.
However, as things happen, six years later in 2000, Mrs. Thatcher found that her memory had also deteriorated significantly and she was also suffering from Alzheimer’s disease. Thinking of her promise and worried that she would not be able to attend Reagan’s funeral at that time, Mrs. Thatcher asked for help to record a eulogy at Reagan’s funeral.
Reagan passed away on June 5, 2004.
At Reagan’s funeral on June 11, Mrs. Thatcher was given a special treat, becoming the first foreign dignitary to give a speech at the funeral. Because doctors that day deemed Mrs. Thatcher’s health unfit to give a speech alone, a eulogy she had recorded four years earlier was played. In her eulogy, Mrs. Thatcher said that no one represented the American people and the American spirit better than President Reagan.
Mrs. Thatcher once claimed in public that President Reagan was the most important man in her life other than her husband, and Reagan unabashedly praised Mrs. Thatcher as “England’s man of the people”.
Their love affair came to a successful conclusion when Mrs. Thatcher faithfully fulfilled her promise to her friend.
Reagan and Mrs. Thatcher, because of their shared values, brought about a mutual appreciation of emotions, a resonance of souls, and transcended the competition of interests.
The two of them, Reagan and Mrs. Thatcher, because of their shared values, brought about a mutual emotional affection and soul resonance, and transcended the dispute over interests, making a beautiful political story.
It is evident that values are the most crucial bond whether one is looking for a life partner or building a lifelong friendship with a gentleman.
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