It's Alright

A lot of my peers frown on me when I say I have admiration for Margaret Thatcher. Not all of them, but enough for me to have had my beliefs pinned as wrong or, as someone in one of my university classes once put them, "f-----g crazy."

"She was a total bitch.... I think," said a girl when our tutor, who happened to be discussing British political history, asked what the class thought of Britain's iron premier.

"I hear they keep two guards outside Thatcher's home to stop her getting out," added another, giggling in the middle of her row.

"Old hag."

"Evil cow."

"Horrible [here was whispered a certain cuss I don't think I should repeat, even with the purposeful use of hyphens]."

And so on and so forth until I became acutely aware that I was surrounded by a room of what I believed to be predominant lefties, liberals and, ultimately, laughing gentry.

I don't want to generalize and I most certainly don't want to oust the political views of others as obsolete, but sometimes as a student I feel as if I am one of the only predominantly right-wing adherer in a field of those who place themselves on the other end of the figurative spectrum.

A big question here is raised then:  why conservative?

When some are asked where their political ideology stands on a scale, they respond with the old 'small' or 'capital' letter ranking. For instance, you might be a 'small L liberal', or a 'capital S socialist.' If I'm to use this particular scale, then I'd classify myself as a medium 'C' conservative.

Since I was around seventeen or eighteen, I always knew who I was going to vote for when the time came, and very, very little could have changed this. Much of my personal outlook, national (and international) views and political beliefs are what the Conservative Party, and conservatism itself, are.

I believe that the government shouldn't be the master of its people. It shouldn't tell them where to work, how to run their lives, how to maintain their family. In complete essence, the government should be a servant. It is the people who should decide how the government should act, not the other way around. Everyone should be free to live as they wish without some big grey force looming over their moves, intruding and intervening where it deems fit. Of course the government should be there if and when we need it as a helping hand, someone to pull as back up and then push us forward. Of course it should hold a degree of power for our protection and guidance. Of course we need some form of ruling. But we don't need it to be our mother, telling us what to do and how to do it.

I believe, for the most part, that socialism is merely diet communism. Like communism, it wants to pretend that everyone is the same, that everyone should be labelled and have their decisions made for them, that making everybody equal will solve all our problems. It likes to drain its citizens of money for 'improvement' and 'upkeep'. It has those who strive to work hard and provide for themselves be a crutch for those who can't be bothered and are happy for others to work hard on their behalf. It wants everything to be set out and plotted on a straight line with an authoritative fist, one that punches and strikes should you stray from this line. This goes against the fabric of freedom and why socialism, like its big brother, will never work properly.

People aren't the same. If you try and assume this, all you do is stifle individual liberty, cripple entrepreneurship and defy human will.

Now just because I adhere to this largely conservative state of mind does not mean I am some far right-wing maniac. I hold a number of what might be considered left-wing views and attitudes:

• I believe that everyone should be entitled to free, public and decent healthcare. I'm a full supporter of the NHS - it's always been there when I've needed it, and I have no issues with it. Everyone should pay their way for the system because everyone is a user. One day you might be fit as a fiddle, the next you could be battling with your own heart. Good public healthcare provides a good, healthy society. 

• I think that mankind is to blame for the majority of the environmental issues our planet suffers. You only need to chance the news recently and see the great oil spill making its way towards America to understand the damage we cause. I don't think that the Earth is just 'hotting up' and that it does so naturally over periods of time. I'm a full believer in global warming - I've watched the documentaries, listened to the sceptics and my view hasn't changed. We need to tackle climate change effectively and very soon.  

• While I'm a big supporter of the free market, I do believe there needs to be a strong levy on banks in the future. They've run amok for too long, splashing waves of money at worthless products, then selling their own products with no compensation or return. 

• Europe is a big'un, and unlike many on my side of the political fence, I think pulling out of it would be a big'un of a mistake. Personally, while Europe is far from ideal to many countries, not least the UK, the pros outweigh the cons of our membership, and I think we would benefit from a deeper and more negotiable relationship with Europe as opposed to this notion of supreme sovereignty we are entitled to and UKIP's claims that leaving it is the sole remedy for Britain's economic ills. That being said, we should forever keep the pound.

There are other, single issues to which my views may ascertain themselves with a degree of leftyness, but I don't want to construct a long bullet list as to why I'm not necessarily one hundred percent conservative (or large 'C'). All of my other views are essentially right, of which I may extend on in the future. Be they not just right-wing, but right in a manner of correctness, is down to one's own thoughts.