OUR OWN WORST ENEMY

OUR OWN ENEMIES

What interest is there in winning Independence amongst Independence supporters?

It is the question I am asking myself this week. There seems to me to be a complete lack of knowledge about the subject. There is huge signs that propaganda has had a severe adverse effect on many pro Independence folk.

Let me give you a clear example. In 2014 Scotland had a referendum on Independence. In effect it had an almost universal franchise, anyone could vote over the age of sixteen. Living in England but owning a home in Scotland, go ahead register in Scotland, studying at University with a few months of your course to go, pick up a ballot paper your welcome.

Few appear to know how completely abnormal such a franchise is, it couldn’t have happened in any other European country where there are severe restrictions on who can vote in their General Elections or Constitutional referenda. This is for good reason, Governments want to establish the views of the citizens, by all means the franchise can be wider for local elections and EU elections but national elections and constitutional referenda are a different, much more serious matter, where indigenous people’s views must be paramount. Residential qualifications can be introduced for non nationals but they must not be set at levels where the result can easily make a significant difference to the result. A decent period of years must be set before any vote can be granted. Votes should also be restricted to those who have Scotland as their primary residence. That restriction should also apply to Scots living outside Scotland in my opinion.

In Scotland the largest group of our incomers arrive from England. Many of these people do not recognise Scotland as a country, they consider it part of Britain. They are happy with Westminster rule. In 2014 the many hundreds of thousands of these people voted by well over 70% to stay with Westminster. The numbers involved were enough to alter the result. Without the votes of incomers the result would have been 53% in favour of Independence. Put another way, if the referendum had been run exactly as it would have been in ANY other EU Country Scotland would be independent today. That seems quite significant to me, the more so when you understand that any future referendum will take place with many more incomers living in Scotland than 2014, perhaps over a million if recent estimates are correct. In a country with an electorate of 4 million that is handing Westminster a huge start in any referendum.

What about the “blood and soil” slurs, the racist accusations? It is propaganda, pure and simple. It is the “ virtue signalling” tactic designed to make you feel inclusive, warm and fuzzy, little realising your slitting your own throat for the privilege. You would not call the French these names, or the Danes,or the Portuguese, what about Norway, or Iceland, or our near neighbours in Ireland, none of them would allow the franchise that was and is in place in Scotland. Not in a million years!

We can welcome people from other nations to our shores. They are welcome in our society, they are our friends, however when it comes to setting the rules about our constitution and future that must be a result determined by the indigenous people augmented with those who have qualified to vote through a lengthy residency qualification of say a decade or more. This would not be Scotland “cherry picking” the electorate, it would be Scotland following the NORMAL AND ACCEPTED franchise operated by all our European neighbours and many countries wider afield.

What is it about these Independence supporters who are intent on forcing us to fight with one hand tied behind our back, at a huge disadvantage on a playing field that is anything but fair? What do they do in their spare time? Do they go swimming with an anchor tied to their feet? Jump off cliffs and wonder why they don’t fly? It’s plain stupidity, self defeating nonsense being told we are “ Jolly good sports” while getting gubbed in the vote is a pretty awful deal to accept. We don’t need to invent any thing to get a fair deal, we just need to adopt the same rules that operate everywhere else across Europe.

When Scotland joined the Union, the franchise denied the people of Scotland a say. Now 314 years later a lot of people have learned nothing. Our Independence must be secured by the people of Scotland using a franchise that would be normal in any of the other countries in Europe. They would, not one of them, accept the franchise Scotland is being offered for their general election or constitutional referendum because it is so easily fiddled. Have we forgot all the tweets after the last referendum of folk from down South boasting how they and their family fiddled a vote,often through second homes, about the great party they had after travelling up with their mates and family to scupper the Scots or after they posted their postal ballots? You may have forgotten but I have not.

Now I know which of Robert Burns poems he would have selected to describe the present Scottish Government, a hint would be that I spent a lot of my working life controlling them, but surely we have some leaders in the Independence Movement willing to toughen up our message, to argue for and to defend our rights.

I see no future for Independence if we allow the only flag in place to be a white one. I have had enough of that.

In anticipation of the Cult inspired pile on please take the time to check out the factual information contained in this article. I know for many in the cult it will change nothing Baa!

 But for others it may create the start of a guilty conscience and a political realisation that you are being played, every day, and not always by just those on the other side. I have no interest in those whose only response to this injustice is negativity, who argue nothing can be done, that we must just grin and bear it. No give me those who are willing to fight, to educate about this unequal arrangement, those who want it fixed.

What we should be doing is discussing and agreeing a franchise based on provisional citizenship then creating that provisional register of those entitled to determine Scotland’s future Constitutional position. That is what you call moving Independence forward, that is displaying to the World that we are serious about this. The information exists to compile this thoroughly and fairly. All that is left to do is to discover whether the Scottish Government and the Yes Movement have the will to make it happen. On winning Independence that provisional register becomes the first official register of all citizens of the Independent nation of Scotland. It would be worth doing! It helps to prepare the ground for going down a UN route once patience finally runs out on the Section 30 roadblock.

This is the result of an Edinburgh University study of what happened in the 2014 Referendum based on the birthplace of the electorate.

I am, as always

Yours for Scotland

BEAT THE CENSORS

Unfortunately a number of pro Indy sites have turned out to be merely pro SNP sites and have blocked a number of bloggers, including myself. We have managed to frustrate these efforts to close us down through our readers sharing our articles and building our audience. In addition many have taken out free direct subscriptions. I very much appreciate this support.

Free Subscriptions

Are available on the Home and Blog pages of this website. By taking out a subscription you will receive notification of all future posts. You will be most welcome.