Short Sighted
Posted on September 4th, 2023
by Rab Bruce’s Spider
Mastodon: @RabBrucesSpider1@Mastodon.Scot
Twitter: @RabBrucesSpider
There can be no doubt that there is a split in the Yes movement. While I can understand why people may hold different views, I can only reiterate my disappointment that this is playing into the hands of the Unionists. The UK has always operated on a divide and conquer basis, and I fear it is proving successful for them.
I must also express my severe disappointment that those who said that Nicola Sturgeon never had any clever plan for turning Scotland into a normal, self-governing country have been proved correct. It wasn’t that I didn’t believe them, because her actions, or lack of them, were fairly clear to see, but I retained the hope that the SNP might still prove to be the political vehicle which would gain us independence. Increasingly, this looks unlikely, although it must be said that no other political Party has yet shown itself capable of replacing the SNP in the eyes of the majority of voters who, let’s face it, do not keep fully up to date with the details of daily politics.
However, some who claim to be Yes supporters do seem to be taking a very short-sighted view of things. A recent article on the Wings Over Scotland website went into great detail about Rev Campbell’s reasons for feeling abandoned by the SNP. While it was difficult to disagree with much of the detail in the piece, I was extremely disappointed in the response of some readers who claimed that if there was another IndyRef, they either wouldn’t vote or would actually vote No simply out of dislike of the SNP and the current crop of Scottish Government Ministers.
Now, whether these accounts on social media are genuine or whether they were pro-Union accounts masquerading as Yessers, I cannot say. But the sentiment is typical of the short-sighted view that so many people take when it comes to voting. Whether in an election or a referendum, people really need to look at the bigger picture. Voting because of personal circumstances is understandable if selfish, but when it comes to a referendum on independence, what people really need to understand is that the whole point is to turn Scotland into a country where we can vote out unpopular politicians. Some may say that this is the reason the SNP is not moving us towards independence because it would spell the end of that Party’s core reason for existing. I’m not so sure about that, but it would certainly remove the constitutional question which overrides every election in Scotland. If we did somehow manage to become a normal country, then the SNP would need to justify itself to Scottish voters. Given that most of their opposing political Parties are merely branded versions of English Parties, whether the SNP would face much opposition is a moot point. But the overriding principle is that the main reason to become a normal country is so that you can choose your own Government and not be ruled from the country next door. If you make the wrong choice, then you vote them out at the next election. At the moment, the only election choices are essentially between the SNP and a Unionist Party. That is an awful situation which needs to change.
So, however much you may disagree with the SNP, to say that you would either abstain or vote No in any future IndyRef is, quite frankly, a ludicrous position to adopt. If we get the chance, we must vote to become a normal country. Failure to do so would condemn future generations of Scots to even more exploitation by Westminster, and those future generations might never get another chance. And if you hate the SNP so much, then you can vote against them in an independent Scotland in the same way as every voter in a normal country can do. As I’ve said before, independence will be around a lot longer than any individual politician, and just because you dislike the current SNP politicians should not undermine the fundamental cause of independence which is greater than any Party.