http://www.margaretthatcher.org/speeches/displaydocument.asp?docid=104579

" I can promise you two things. The first is the friendship of the[fo 1] British people; the second is that the years of socialist bumbling are at an end.

I am proud to lead a Conservative administration in Britain. For me, and I know for you, too, conservatism does not mean maintenance of the status quo. It means maintenance of the old values, the only background against which one could make the changes and adaptations which have to be made to keep abreast of the technological change that we need to embrace for a prosperous future.

Conservatism means harnessing, but still more, the liberation of the fundamental strengths and resources which make a country great, which make its people prosperous and self-reliant.[fo 2]

As a Conservative I want determined and decisive government. But that's something very different from an all-powerful government. You and I, Mr. President, believe in strong governments in areas where only governments can do the job, areas where governments can and must be strong, strong in the defense of the nation, strong in protecting law and order, strong in promoting a sound currency. If we do these things very well we shall indeed be leaders of strong government doing the things that only government can do.

But for too long and in too many places we've seen government assume the role of universal provider and universal arbiter. In many areas of our daily life there are hard but essential choices to be made. But in a free society those choices ought not to be made by government but by free men and women and managers and workforce alike whose lives and livelihood are directly affected.

Mr. President, wall-to-wall government is no substitute for that freedom of choice. Wall-to-wall government is economically inefficient and morally demeaning to the individual. Just take a look at those countries where the art has been brought to its cold, callous perfection to see where that leads. "