The Scottish Referendum In A More Ethical Light.

[sevenOP]

It would be a chance to dissociate with 'perfidious Albion' - not that Scotland has a clean past by any means and rather than all the financial pros and cons and the "me what will I gain by it" materialistic(consumer) aspect, it could be a chance to build a cleaner(less corrupt), fairer society and hopefully foster a genuine democratic culture where the Scottish people could have more chance to deal/dispense with the hypocritical politicians and other leeches that are deeply embedded in UK society.

This article mentions
"The most coherent of the young people I spoke to understood the macro-economic risk. But they weighed it against two increasingly intolerable burdens: the inability of Scotland's relatively left-leaning electorate to influence Westminster; and the inability to budge Scottish Labour away from the free-market and pro-austerity policies associated with Brown and Darling."
http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2014/aug/31/scottish-independence-yes-vote-turnout-polls

It also mentions an awakening of the people that have been spoon fed their 'opinions' by the media for too long.

[Obiter]

"The most coherent of the young people I spoke to understood the macro-economic risk."

I am sorry, I have never used this acronym before, but the above just makes me ROFLMAO.

[Old_Geezer]

But where does one purchase these rose tinted glasses ?

[KARL]

After the fog of "You will be £498 worse off" and other "if you don't say you love us, we're going to make certain the heavens fall in on you" type of threats, it seems to be dawning on most observers that within Scotland people have genuinely started thinking about what the choice is really about. It appears that hundreds of thousands of people who have never given the issues of governance the slightest thought are now getting their heads around what genuinely collective involvement in democracy means and can achieve - and it seems they are enjoying it. In this respect Scotland is way ahead of the rest of the UK (N-Ireland is differen and unique within this "club"). The mere prospect of a referendum is switching on the imagination for people and the result is something probably neither side foresaw: Serious participation in the debate is becoming widespread and the turn-out is predicted to far exceed recent figures.

I know of people who openly state that they have switched from No to Yes but have not heard of any going in the opposite direction. The now real possibility of a Yes outcome is a much greater surprise to those south of the border than those north of it and it is clearly a rude awakening for Westminster and beyond. It is a case of wearing blinkers while talking down and hinting at ineptitude and worse. Such people have no understanding of psychology - how often has condescendence not only angered but actually provided the deciding factor/spur toward achievement of a goal ?

[sevenOP]

""The most coherent of the young people I spoke to understood the macro-economic risk."
I am sorry, I have never used this acronym before, but the above just makes me ROFLMAO.

There is no acronym in that sentence incidently.

Rather jaded view Old_Geezer, like the donkey in Animal Farm.

[chris1957au]

I just hope they get to take there share of immigrants with them as thus far they have avoided it

[-Talbot-]

What is ROFLMAO.if it is not an acronym?

[jim360]

This is not purely about governance; after all, the intention is also to remain in the EU, which is many times more undemocratic an institution and in which Scotland's voice would be far smaller than it is in Westminster. And the macro-economic risks cannot truly be understood until they happen. In the short-term no-one really knows how bad things will get -- this could include them not getting bad at all, but it's a major risk.

The self-governance argument is in some senses a bit of a red herring anyway. Individually Scottish voters would still have one voice in millions which is tiny, while voters in any other region that votes in a way differently from the rest of the country could be said to suffer the same problem. In this respect Scotland is not special, or unique, and the problem of misaligned government is one that anyway doesn't come round all that often.

[Canary42]

An abbreviation

[jeffa]

It's an abbreviation or, more accurately, an initialism. It's only an acronym if you can say it like a word. VAT is an acronym when it rhymes with 'cat', but not when it's vee-eh-tee.

If you pronounce it roffle-mao, it's an acronym.

[Obiter]

No it isn't, it's an acronym.

[Obiter]

My apologies, I am wrong. Jeffa is correct.

[DTCwordfan]

So sevenOP, you wish to create Her Majesty's Communist Republic of Scotland, akin to what Red Ken and HM's Nuclear Free Zone of Lambeth did many years ago?

Or you could opt to become Her Majesty's Chinese Republic of Scotland, "Socialism with Chinese Tendencies"

So which model are you advocating?

Just remember two things (i) Deng Xiaoping wrote, 'Poverty is not socialism. To be rich is glorious.' (ii) Both are authoritarian systems and you seem to be advocating one-party politics and how dangerous that is.

[DTCwordfan]

Obiter, a most appropriate example could be the creation of FUK by Friday midday, the 'Former United Kingdom'

[DTCwordfan]

Oh, one thing about being less corrupt and ethics. Let's not forget Fred the Shed and RBS, Fettesgate, South Ronaldsay, the building of the Parliament and Edinburgh's tram projects, David McLecthie, Jim Devine, Bill Walker (SNP), Baron Watson of Invergowerie, Henry McLeish, Distillers with Guinness and also producing Thalidomide, the Catholic Church in Scotland and its blind eye, etc etc. and recently the report on Scottish Police not acting on the 3000 know pedos in Scotland (29.06.14 Sunday Post).

What a clean society.....no better than down here.

[sevenOP]

So sevenOP, you wish to create Her Majesty's Communist Republic of "Scotland, akin to what Red Ken and HM's Nuclear Free Zone of Lambeth did many years ago?

Or you could opt to become Her Majesty's Chinese Republic of Scotland, "Socialism with Chinese Tendencies"

So which model are you advocating? " > DTXF

I am advocating a functioning democracy.

"What a clean society.....no better than down here." > DTXF

Exactly why a change is due.