Quote:
Originally Posted by jalfrezi
It pre-dates Lloyd George.
Mrs Thatcher was often described as a 19th century liberal, meaning that she believed in free markets and was anti-welfare and anti-tax, and therefore pro-charity for the alleviation of poverty lol.
Reagan was similar (though Thatcher certainly ended up raising taxes in the '80s and I think Reagan did too).
19th-Century Liberals were free-traders, as opposed to protectionists. Lloyd George's People's Budget of 1909 broke the mould by introducing taxes on the unearned income of the rich to finance the old-age pension and unemployment and sickness benefits.
Churchill, as President of the Board of Trade at that time, set up the first Labour Exchanges to help the unemployed to find work. He also introduced the Trade Boards Act 1909 which set up the first minimum-wage standards. He also supported the People's Budget and, when promoted to Home Secretary in 1910, the National Insurance Act.
Since then, the essential political conflict has been between the psychopathic tendency (who believe you should cut other people's throats to get whatever you want and you should then be allowed to keep all of it) and the non-psychopathic tendency (who think that's a rubbish and unworkable way to carry on).