I am voting YES at the referendum on the 18th. This is no surprise to anyone, I’m sure, given the articles and images I’ve been posting and sharing on Facebook, but I want to share exactly why I’m making this choice. The reasons are numerous, but they are – to my mind – overwhelming. Why vote NO? If anyone is voting no in order to maintain the status quo then – sorry to break it to you – that ship has sailed. Given the petty nature of the political world (and that’s not just, but perhaps especially, the current Westminster crop), I believe it to be unlikely that the promised, but conveniently vague, ‘new powers’ for Scotland, will amount to any more than the cutting of funding in the name of fictional ‘austerity’, as Westminster punishes the ‘Rebellious Scots’ (a term I’m deliberately quoting from one of the other verses of God Save The Queen/King) for their damned insolence. The future, as part of the ‘Union’, looks bleak. Economically, the argument is easy. We currently fund Westminster with more money than Westminster allows us in pocket money, so immediately we’re better off than we currently are. We will no longer have to be part of the underwriting of private finance initiatives to fund public projects at vastly inflated costs to the taxpayer. We will no longer have to be part of the underwriting of illegal, imperialist wars, nor send our sons and daughters to die in unjustifiable conflicts. We will no longer have to be part of a state which is committed to baling out and supporting the criminal practices of the financial sector instead of jailing the bankers and supporting the people. We will no longer have to fund the Westminster gravy train that is intent on destroying the things that have made the UK an incredible country (for example, a Welfare State that provides support for the poorest and most vulnerable, the NHS which provides healthcare for free for an entire population) and put all our services in private hands, which both New Labour and Old Tories have been doing. We can invest the money we will save in improving the economy, services and lives for all in a fairer, independent Scotland, and fast become the envy of the remaining countries of the UK (perhaps even show them the way?). Of course, if you believe the hype, all big business will pull out of an independent Scotland. Banks, industry and investment will all disappear. No it won’t! Big business will go where they can make money, as will banks, as will investors. And those that insist on going, under the instruction of CEOs intent on getting their knighthoods, let them go – others will take their place, independent Scots will continue to buy and consume, and the economy will keep on running. But what currency will we use? We’ll keep our pound, of course! It’s as much Scotland’s as it is England’s, or Wales’s, or Northern Ireland’s, or Guernsey’s or Gibraltar’s, etc… If Westminster wants to sit down to discuss a formal currency union, Scotland has already said it will take on a reasonable proportion of the UK national debt. I f Westminster does not want to discuss then we can still use it, but they can’t really insist that Scotland assumes the debt. It’s up to them. We will not have defaulted on our debts in this case. Westminster will have cut off its nose to spite its face. Personally, I’d prefer a separate Scottish currency. I look forward to changing my Scots Pounds at a bureau de change for English Pounds at an exchange rate which alone justifies the decision to separate, and that’s not an impossible scenario. Oil! Ah, the black gold that any other nation on this planet has used to ensure economic stability but, somehow, in Scotland, becomes a terrible burden. Let me tell you the truth, Westminster are soiling their collective underwear that they might lose the oil. The scare stories and ‘oil industry experts’ being wheeled out to tell us that the oil reserves of the North Sea have been vastly overestimated, makes me laugh. So, if we only have 50 years of oil left we’ll use the revenue to assist us in the building of a better Scotland. Norway managed to establish a trillion dollar oil fund in 24 years, and no-one has said we’ve less than 24 years of oil left. And when the oil does run dry, long after we are all dead (and hailed as the heroic generation that gave Scotland back to itself), we can always fall back on being world leaders in engineering, manufacturing, food and drink, tourism, etc, etc, etc… An independent Scotland will also give us a far greater democratic say in how our nation proceeds. In every general election since WWII, if you were to remove the Scottish electorate and members from the equation, there would be no change to the party in charge at Westminster. No change at all. At the last general election, Scotland overwhelmingly did not vote for a Tory government (neither did the rest of the UK, as it happens, but Labour couldn’t compromise with the Lib Dems for coalition so second-place Tories did). It would appear that we are not being fairly represented at Westminster, nor are we able to exert sufficient influence upon electoral outcomes. This is not a Union of Nations. We are, to Westminster, a province, a backwater, an irrelevance. I hear people saying they will vote no because of the shared history we have, out of some nostalgia for the good old days of being British. This, frankly, terrifies me. It scares me because it is a deeply entrenched feeling in most people to stick with what they know, to muddle along, enduring hardship and doing their bit. How very British! How very stupid! Know this: this vote is about the future of Scotland, its children and generations to come. Voting YES in no way disrespects or insults the memory of our shared history, the sacrifices, the victories, the good or bad that we, as a United Kingdom, have been through. I heard on the radio of a man, who had fought in the Second World War, who was reported as having made his postal vote. He had voted NO because he could not bring himself to vote for the dissolution of the country he had fought for, thought it would be disrespectful to the memories of his fallen comrades. I respect the sentiment, but it is ridiculous. It is as ridiculous as citing Bannockburn or Culloden. Why vote for the future on behalf of the dead? I am voting YES especially because I cannot conceive of being able to provide a good answer to the question, ten years from now, when Riley asks me why we didnt vote for independence when we had the chance. What will I tell him? That the future was too uncertain? That we, as a nation, lacked the balls to take our future into our own hands? That we are a poor, weak, stupid nation that couldnt be expected to govern itself? I don’t recognize that Scotland. My Scotland invented almost everything in the modern world. My Scotland is a powerhouse of industry. My Scotland is a thriving producer of oil, of whisky, of Grand Theft Auto (designed in Dundee, by the way), of art and music and food and ideas. My Scotland is a beautiful land the world wants to come to, to invest in, to believe in. My Scotland is not weak, or poor. My Scotland is rich, cultured, diverse, inclusive, just, fair, and above all, BRAVE. Be brave. Vote YES!
Posted on: Sun, 07 Sep 2014 12:37:29 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015