“Individualism has come in for an enormous amount of criticism over the years. It still does. It is widely assumed to be synonymous with selfishness -- an argument which I have already examined and I hope successfully dismissed. But the main reason why so many people in power have always disliked individualism is because it is individualists who are ever keenest to prevent abuse of authority.
A large part of the explanation of why the English have been so successful in making liberty work is, I am convinced, that the nation has bred and nurtured more than its share of these rugged, angular individualists. We all know who they are. They are the people referred as ‘one of a kind’, or ‘a character’, or, sometimes and less favourably ‘a difficult customer’, or even on occasion ‘a damned nuisance’. They are not to be consigned to social categories, nor planned into programmes, nor fitted into schemes. They drive socialists wild. We need such individualists in every walk of life. We need them just as oysters need grit. No grit, no pearl.”
MARGARET THATCHER
No comments:
Post a Comment