In 1990 Global warming was, she argued, “real enough for us to make changes and
sacrifices, so that we do not live at the expense of future
generations.”. But by 2003 she was calling climate action a “marvelous excuse for supra-national socialism". This is all recorded on the Grist website.Why the shift for Margaret ? Is the answer peer pressure? It's not just politicians who follow the pack, we all do. To step outside of the reassurance and identity of the group you belong to, takes courage. It seems that Margaret Thatcher was influenced by right wing think-tanks. And I don't imagine that the ordinary conservative voter wanted to hear about the need to change lifestyle. (None of us do.... )
The other strand was hearing about Hannah Arendt's and the trial of Adolf Eichmann in Jerusalem in 1961. I understand that her thesis, as presented in her journalism then in the book "Eichmann in Jerusalem: A report on the banality of evil" is that ordinary people who carry out the law as it is and conform to mass opinion, are part of the evil. (I feel more comfortable using the word "Sin". It's in the same ball-park as evil 'though)
Behind this is a truth. We often do a lot of bad stuff just following the crowd.
We can scape-goat our politicians to try and make us feel better - but the truth is that we are each prone to doing nothing, changing our minds, and going with the pack.