Margaret (Maggie) Thatcher, the Iron Lady, and her neo-conservative philosophy transformed British political life forever. Actor turned politician Ronald Reagan, selling "trickle down" economics, did the same to political life in the United States. In Harperism, Donald Gutstein details how Stephen Harper accomplished a similar dramatic shift to the right and a introduced a new kind of politics in Canada. It's key tenets include:
**Canada's economic prosperity is strengthened when labour is weak—especially when unions disappear
**Public policy making is improved by cutting government scientific research and data collection
**Converting First Nations reserves to private property improves the conditions of life for aboriginal peoples
**Inequality of incomes and wealth is a good thing—and Canada needs more of it
These and other central ideas that make-up Harperism flow from the neo-liberal economic theories of Austrian economist Friedrich von Hayek and his disciples in the U.S.A and inspired Reaganism and Thatcherism.
