Del. Szeliga: New Senator; Hundreds of Bills; Margaret Thatcher

From Del. Kathy Szeliga:

New Senator!

Just over one week ago, Senator Wayne Norman of Harford County died suddenly. Wayne was a good friend and great senator, not to mention wonderful husband, father and grandfather. He is already missed.

Wayne’s wife, Linda Norman, was sworn in to fill out Wayne’s term. She was joined on the Dias to be sworn in by her son, Chip. I know Linda will do a great job representing the people of Harford and Cecil Counties.

Hundreds of Bills moving

Monday is the date that bills must be from the House to the Senate to ensure passage by April 9th. It’s been crazy!

Next week, I’ll be sure to give you an update. The worst bill so far expands taxpayer funded scholarship programs for illegal immigrants – some are so-called Dreamers and some are not even Dreamers. As there is a limited amount of scholarship money available, all those funds should be limited to Maryland citizens. I voted no.

Margaret Thatcher was AMAZING!

“In politics, if you want something said, ask a man; if you want something done, ask a woman.”

Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher was the first female Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and one of the first women to lead a major western democracy. She is a founder of the school of modern conservative politics, along with the late President Ronald Reagan.

In the spirit of Women’s History Month, here is my ode to the Iron Lady.

Thatcher characterized this movement, pouring her heart and soul into the policies and legislation she wrote. Her brand of conservative politics continues to have a powerful effect in both Britain and the United States. By her reputation for unrelenting and common-sense rhetoric, Thatcher earned a higher international profile than any British politician since Winston Churchill.

The daughter of Alfred Roberts, a grocer and local alderman, Thatcher was born solidly middle-class. However, the young Margaret was a straight shooter—intelligent and elegant, with strong moral convictions. Her aptitude initially led her to the University of Oxford where she studied chemistry—but it was apparent that her true calling was in politics. At Oxford, she became one of the first woman presidents of the Oxford University Conservative Association, where her fiscally responsible agenda earned her enthusiastic respect among her male peers.

Lady Thatcher, a great patriot, was bewildered by Britain’s inability to buck the economic recession of 1945. For Thatcher, a fiscal system was just as moral as it was economic. She felt that the Labor Party was doing the British people a great disservice by its implementation of collectivist policies that helped some but financially strangled the nation—in her words, “pennies do not come from heaven–they have to be earned here on earth.” She was elected a Member of Parliament in 1959 and won the Conservative Party nomination for Prime Minister in 1975, defeating her male opponent by a significant margin.

From there, Thatcher took strong positions against communism and socialism. The Russian press branded her with the nickname the Iron Lady— originally meant as an insult—yet Thatcher embraced it and used it to her advantage. A great many factors contributed the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1989, but Mrs. Thatcher’s policies were some of the most influential in its fall.

Prime Minister Thatcher once said, “You may have to fight a battle more than once to win it,” and I think that is something I need to remember as a member of the legislature and those of us fighting to preserve our liberties must keep in mind.

God bless you and your family!

Delegate Kathy Szeliga