I was fortunate enough to be in Scotland two weeks ago for the referendum on Scottish Independence…
The couple I was staying with were committed “No” voters but the town where they lived seemed to be evenly divided pro and con on the issue. The degree of interest in the vote was unprecedented by British standards and unthinkable by American ones. Ninety seven percent (97%) of those eligible to vote were registered. Moreover, foreign residents and 16 year olds and older were all eligible so the pool of eligible voters was a large one.
I was also fortunate enough to know two of the most knowledgeable observers on the event. I ran into Scot Niall Ferguson in New York on my way over. (Ferguson has been to K.C. twice in recent years, once to speak at the rededication of the Liberty Memorial, the second time to teach at William Jewell.) Ferguson said he was worried about the outcome of the vote.
As a widely respected historian, he thought that the Scottish Nationalist Party was being run by demagogues like Alex Salmond, the S.N.P leader, who were cynically exploiting legitimate dissent and unhappiness with the established British parties, the Conservatives and Labour. In a post-mortem after the vote, he pointed out that the Scottish Nationalists were part of a wave of populist parties, harnessing the unhappiness with the political establishment in an unhealthy mixture of chauvinism and authoritarianism. (This is true throughout Europe right now, with anti-immigrant, xenophobic parties thriving in such disparate countries as France, Holland, Sweden, and Greece.)
Ferguson
The risk for Scotland was that the S.N.P. would have tried to deliver a North Sea version of Hugo Chavez’s Venezuela, with confiscated oil production used to finance extravagant social welfare schemes until it ran out. Ferguson pointed out how backward looking, secession from the United Kingdom was, placing Scotland on the same level of political development as Belorussia or South Ossetia or other backward places. He argued for the need for mainstream political parties to ally to turn back the extremists.
I also saw John McDermott, a journalist for the Financial Times, one of the best newspapers in the world. McDermott himself is Scottish, from Glasgow, and he was also concerned with the divisive effect the independence referendum was having on the Scottish people. In a brilliant piece in the FT on Thursday, September 18th, the day of the referendum, McDermott described how the issue had obsessed the nation, dividing family members against each other. His article, “Beauty and Terror leave Scots on the rack-and the brink of history,” is quite simply some of the best political writing I’ve ever read. (It is matched only by his writings about the 2012 American presidential election, datelined from Olathe and Independence!)
McDermott
In the end only the very poorest parts of Scotland gave majorities to the “Yes” vote.
It was quite simply a vote of the disenfranchised and desperate, hoping that dramatic change (any change!) had to be an improvement. I told McDermott that the kinds of people I saw flaunting “Yes!” stickers and hats were the kind of benighted souls you see in the U.S. displaying Confederate flag decals or license plates.
To paraphrase Yeats, this time the Center did hold, but it was a “damn close run thing.” The political classes need to understand that people will turn in anger and despair to clever, slick manipulators in troubled times. Alex Salmond was like Greg Orman, the kind of politician who gives opportunism a bad name.
There have been a lot of stupid takes on this topic, but you might have a prize winner here.
Kumbaya Mr. Sutherland.
Here is a list of a few dust ups with “The Religion Of Peace”.
http://markhumphrys.com/islamic.attacks.west.html
One man’s xenophobia is another man’s idea of self preservation after seeing his kids blown to pieces or experiencing some “Work Place Violence”.
Would that it were, you were up to your neck in the Thames surrounded by all you freinds, of course swimming towards Mecca.
A little more info on those “xenophobic” Europeans.
“But when it comes to actual jihadists, to those who have or will commit an act of terrorism in Allah’s name, my research suggests that they represent no more than one in one hundred of the 180 million young fundamentalist Muslim men prepared mentally, morally, and spiritually to be terrorists. That means that there are 1.8 million actual Islamic jihadists on the planet today – a number which could jump one hundred fold almost instantaneously should the opportunity arise.
Before you get a warm and cozy feeling, thinking that only 60% of Muslims are sufficiently indoctrinated in fundamentalist Islam to be a terrorist should the opportunity arrise, and that only 25% of those Muslims are the appropriate age and sex to actually engage in jihad, let’s consider some recent historical events. In 1917, less than 3% of Russians were Communists. Yet since that 3% was sufficiently corrupted by an immoral and ruthless religion (Socialist Secular Humanism), they quickly came to oppress the entire nation – murdering 30 million Russians in the process. In 1924, less than 3% of Germans were Nazis. And yet since that 3% was sufficiently corrupted by Hitler’s “People’s Religion” as it was immorally and ruthlessly laid out in Mein Kampf, that 3% came to oppress the entire nation and led the world into a war that killed 50 million people.”
http://www.danielpipes.org/comments/65537
Just yesterday, to the chagrin (This is obvioulsy a rhetorical reference, “chagrin” left the Islamic building with Elvis. “Taqiyyah” is the salve and strategy for all Islamic wounds.) of those in the Mid East with eyes that will not see, BiBi told it like it is.
http://www.jpost.com/Arab-Israeli-Conflict/Full-text-of-Prime-Minister-Netanyahus-UN-speech-376626
The joys of European Multiculturalism were never more evident than last month. No doubt, many folks became “xenophobic” that very day.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2734694/It-hard-appalling-nature-abuse-child-victims-suffered-1-400-children-sexually-exploited-just-one-town-16-year-period-report-reveals.html
Guys, I can’t believe that I’m accused of being a left-wing multicultural enthusiast! Niall F.,who I was quoting,is after all, a fellow conservative and sworn enemy of Paul Krugman ! John McDermott is a former staffer for Tony Blair and has no use for Old Labour types like Gordon Brown but is still a man of the center-left. Occasionally you have to unite with your usual political rivals to defeat a threat from outside the political mainstream. That is the lesson from the referendum. That said,I’ve seen with my own eyes in France,Italy,and Switzerland the threat of unchecked third world immigration. It’s a legitimate issue,a vital issue in fact,and thus it’s critical that it not be hijacked and discredited by extremists,like the neo-nazi parties that are raising their heads throughout Europe. I’m appalled at what happened in Rotherham and dismayed that the forces of political correctness have conspired to cover it up. Remember,there is a middle ground,i.e. the Center MUST hold !
I think I know which side you would have been on in the revolutionary war.
Jesus chuck you really are insane. Not just a little mind you but you’re one festering mass of hatred and instability.
Thanks for the in depth analysis Dr. Lecter.
Maybe it will bring back the dead and magically replace that missing real estate in Manhatten.
Send me a postcard from Mogadishu moron.
There has never been a British colony who gained independence and regretted it. Scotland is very old and many people feel a connection to Britain and the Britain that is gone. If this vote is held in 20 years, which it wont, it would be the other way around.
The idea that the SNP would become Venezuela with castles and golf is absurd.