It is with great sadness that we at the Bluegrass Institute mourn the loss of a great champion of free markets and liberty, might we even call her a patriot. Lady Margaret Thatcher passed away on Monday.

“I can’t bear Britain in decline, I just can’t," Lady Thatcher said in an interview shortly before her election as prime minister 32 years ago.

How much many of us can relate to that one statement. I know I can. I can’t bear a Kentucky in decline or a U.S. in decline. As a free people, we’re not made to decay, decline and rot. It’s not in our DNA. Liberty demands that we strive, change and grow anew.

Lady Thatcher stepped up to lead a Great Britain that was so much in decline that the nation was called the “Sick Man of Europe.” The Iron Lady stepped forward to lead a nation forward.

Here in Kentucky, we might look to her life for renewed resolve and renewed purpose as "Iron Patriots.” Today, Kentucky has been called the “Greece of surrounding states,” a “sinkhole state” and a “death spiral state.” Let’s stand up as “Iron Patriots” for, as she said, there can be no liberty unless there is economic liberty.

In May 2010, the Bluegrass Institute had the pleasure of hosting John Blundell, confidante to Lady Thatcher. You can view that speech here.

-Kelly Smith