Why I’m voting Yes: “Should” vs “Could” In exactly a month, we’ll all be waking up to a new Scotland regardless of whether we vote Yes or No. I hope you don’t mind me sharing this with you, but I thought I’d scribble down my thoughts leading up to the big day. It’s hard to find a good source of information that offers a truly unbiased view on the individual subjects being debated within the context of the upcoming referendum. It’s easy to see why. No matter how much importance people and politicians place on those individual subjects, or how unique or common they are to either side of the debate, ultimately there will only be a single question to answer: “Should Scotland be an independent country?” The answer is either yes or no – maybe is not an option. Polarised views are everywhere – campaign marketing, the media, public debates, and from my own experience, in the streets, in offices and homes, on Facebook and so on. It seems as if the most conflicting views in the debate have concerned whether or not Scotland “could” be an independent country. Can we use the pound? Can we afford independence? Can we protect the NHS and pensions? Can we stay in the EU? But the key word in the referendum is “should”. People are spending their time talking and thinking about the capabilities of an independent Scotland rather than its responsibilities. When I look beyond the conflicting views, seek out the original sources, debunk certain claims and imagine the various outcomes, what I can see is that certain subjects have outcomes which seem just as likely whether voting Yes or No. Similarly, there are other subjects where the outcomes are difficult to establish with any certainty from either side of the debate. The subjects which have clearly different outcomes therefore, are those which have informed my choice. These are the subjects where the key verb is should, not could. The first subject is representation. People and parties in the Scottish Parliament and local councils are traditionally very different from those in Westminster and the rest of the UK. People in Scotland have voted for principles and policies in past elections, only for an opposing system to gain power on the strength of the UK-wide vote. This is not unique to Scotland – it is easy to apply the same logic to areas such as Wales and Northern Ireland, or the West-Midlands and Yorkshire. The key difference at the moment in Scotland is the second subject… The second subject is momentum. The current referendum, Yes Scotland, the National Collective, Yestival, the Radical Independence Campaign, the Common Weal project, the Jimmy Reid Foundation, Business for Scotland, and many other organisations have seen a surge in activity since the referendum was announced. Most of these movements are very openly pro-independence, however, outside of the main political parties, there are few similar movements in favour of the current union. There are many reasons for the activity, some of the most quoted include; greater equality, fairer democracy, pace of change, nuclear disarmament, consideration of our environment and the third subject… The third subject is resources. The land, the sea, the minerals under the land and sea, the people, the NHS, the education system, the cultures, the ideologies, the ambitions, the innovations, the rain, and bunch of other nouns. Many people feel that independence offers the people of Scotland a chance to protect and invest in its resources. That’s not to say that the union hasn’t done or won’t do the same in future, however the notion that there is a status-quo to which we could retreat to in the event of a No vote is fast becoming a small dot in the rear-view mirror. Like many people, I feel that Scotland is not only capable of making its own choices – the evidence is plain to see in every small nation around the world – but that the under-representation at Westminster and in Europe, the surge in momentum at a grassroots level, and the protection of its resources, means that Scotland should act as a beacon of progress to its neighbours, make its own choices, and that’s why I’m voting yes to independence.
Posted on: Tue, 19 Aug 2014 09:00:03 +0000
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