Scottish Independence - Is It About Legality, Timing, Wording or Freedom?

An argument based on legality has kicked off in the UK between the Westminster government in London and the Holyrood government in Edinburgh.

Suddenly, Prime Minister, David Cameron, is taking an interest in the timing and the wording of the referendum Scotland is to have over independence from the rest of the UK.

The incumbent First Minister of Scotland, Alex Salmond, and his administration have been, until yesterday, reluctant to set the referendum date. However, they've never made it a secret that they preferred the latter part of their term in office, which they’ve at last allotted to autumn 2014. I suspect that First Minister Salmond, well known for his political astuteness, is expecting the coming ‘austerity’, to have the effect of driving the Scottish electorate towards the independence camp.

I also expect the Westminster government, not least those of the fictional Sir Humphrey ilk, are also aware of that factor. When the excrement hits the austerity fan, I’ve no doubt that they’ll all expect the majority of Scottish voters to blame it on the Westminster administration.

I think the whole thing is BS. What is independence in the modern World? Anybody who gives the democratic question a moment's thought whatsoever is well aware of the hamstrung nature of modern government - all over the Western World. Most of us know now, if we didn't have our suspicions before, that the banks and the corporations hold all the trump cards of power today.

The Scottish people have consistently rejected Thatcherism - Scottish Tories have been as extinct as Monty Python's "dead parrot" ever since the industrial sell-off of 80s Britain. I think that's the main reason Scots voted for an SNP (Scottish National Party) administration. They were in a position to put across the message, 'a plague on all your houses' - so they did. “And now for something completely different”, would aptly continue the Python theme from the Scottish viewpoint.

The Labour Party, in the guise of New Labour, also turned its back on those its initiators intended it should represent. “A stake-holder society”, said PM Tony Blair, not so long ago, “For the many, not the few”. These sound bites prove one thing above all else, to me; that he knew what 'the people' required of him. What they got - was more Thatcherism.

So for now, Scotland votes SNP - but will an independent Scotland make much difference to the Scottish people? Do the majority of Scots really want to go it alone? Not according to the polls, they all average out about 30% for complete independence. I won't go into the 'devo-max' question, which Salmond's opponents are trying to kick into the long grass, along with the timing, to settle the thing (before the austerity kicks in).

Will they want independence after a couple of years of 'austerity'? Maybe, and that, I suspect, is what Alex Salmond is banking on. Moreover, it seems that that hasn't escaped the notice of his political rivals in Hollyrood and Westminster. Either way it’s disingenuous on all sides - for where does it leave us when the dust settles?

What about 'we, the Scottish people'? If we do decide to walk away from Westminster hegemony, will that put an end to the imposition of right wing policies on Scotland? To answer that, we only need to look at what happened in the Euro-zone recently - to Greece, for example - when the ‘troika’ ousted the democratically elected Greek Prime Minister George Papandreou and replaced him with one of their unelected technocratic puppets.

Does anyone believe that a Scottish administration would fare better in such circumstances? Alex Salmond and his administration have kowtowed to these corporations in a way that would’ve put King John Balliol (Tomb Tabard) to shame. The Sun Newspaper, one of Rupert Murdoch's conduits supported separation. Isn't that enough to set the 'divide and conquer' alarm bells ringing?

Personally, I'm all for eradicating from Scotland, the kind of ideology that destroyed the consensus type of capitalism with which I grew up in post World War II Britain. Can we go back? Maybe I’m just a grumpy old codger hankering for the past. My generation was lucky, it seems.

However, as things stand, never mind Scotland, if the most powerful nation on Earth is unable to secure government ‘of the people’ and keep it safe, what hope is there for the Scots?

Mind you, if I saw an administration anywhere in the Western World demonstrating a serious will to fight for independence from the real rulers of this planet, it would get my support. For regardless of the size of that country, its assets or mineral wealth, I know that there I’d find the greatest hope for freedom against modern-style servitude.

For me, it's not about the size of the country, its history or any assets it may have. It's about the determination of ‘the people’ in their jurisdiction, that democracy will mean democracy, and nothing but democracy - at all costs. When, or if, we get that clear, everything else will fall into place.

Anything less leads back to the slippery slope, we’re on now - the one sure way to complete disenfranchisement. Democracy should mean that if a mere device, such as money, has any part to play in a society -at all - it must be used ‘by the people’ and ‘for the people’, and never again, as a means to shackle the people.