To Change a Decade

To change any event in history is a lofty power to have and would alter the course of history. Such an event that should be changed is that decadent decade known as the1980's. Even a decade can be considered to be an event and the 1980's is one such event that should be drastically altered. Of course the 1980's can be thanked for the numerous advancements made in the areas of technology and medicine, but it was also the point when the Western world followed their leaders into a realm of selfishness.

It was in that decade when Margaret Thatcher became England's Prime Minister, Brian Mulroney became Prime Minster of Canada and Ronald Reagan became President of the United States of America. These leaders took it upon themselves to push the majority of the first world way from the ethical treatment of all people despite class to the exact and devastating opposite.

Thatcher's administration served as the inspiration for both Mulroney and Reagan. She moved England away from caring about the rights of its citizens and put business first. Thatcher was committed to reducing the power of trade unions and moved to put laws in place that would punish unions allowing walk outs. She abolished "closed shop" industries and moved to make secondary "industrial action" illegal. By putting industry interests above the working class's interests Thatcher moved England toward an industry first nation rather than a nation first nation.

In Canada Mulroney turned Canada's back on impoverished Canadians, sold and destroyed many national symbols and privatized government run industries. Such industries were designed to promote Canadian businesses and control Canadian resources keeping them affordable for all Canadians. These industries were called "crown corporations" and Mulroney sold off 23 of 61 crown corporations including Air Canada and Petro Canada because Canada doesn't need subsidized oil to heat Eastern Canada.

Reagan, the third of this sordid trinity, took the USA and turned it into the free market country it is today. His main concern was to get rid of Lyndon Johnson's "Great Society" which promoted the elimination of poverty and segregation and help for the lower classes. He went against this by removing government from business and thus succeeded in the dream of free market for all.

All three contributed to the global take over by industry leading to materialism, pollution and mass consumerism. The most horrifying thing they did was moving people away from a "national community" mode of thinking to a "me" and "my kinds of people" mode of thinking. If the 1980's could have been changed so that its influence had been on that promoted moving toward world betterment instead of destruction, today would be a far different world.

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