“They who can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety.”
– Benjamin Franklin
What percentage of No was about pensions and safety and what percentage was about the Union.
It took 16 hours for Westminster to renege on their promises. Now we hear more about the English Parliament than we do about the rest of us. We will be content with more powers over less. The wealth hoarded in Westminster will be spent less outside England. We will pay tribute and receive less. This is the wage of a failed revolution.
Here, in the North of Ireland, we are beset with the most mediocre of leaders. Even today they run confused, barely comprehending that in two years an idea rose from nothing to 45% of the population. This is something that NONE of our parties have managed to achieve.
The last time Northern Ireland rose like this was our last referendum when we spoke as one nation and 71% of us voted for peace. We got the peace and we received no more. Sixteen years later and we have wasted our advantage, spent the currency of our souls on flags and emblems and blame.
Earlier this year I cast my lot in with a band of hopefuls. And though we barely moved the needle, I would do it again. It may not have been the right time or the place or even the right vehicle, it it still spoke to me. But my generation is tired of the flags and the emblems and the blame. I’m moved to tears by the Yes campaign in Scotland. They tried, they gave it their all.
Did we even try?
Matt,
Great quote!
Have a you read any of Paul Mason’s stuff – he’s the Channel 4 news journalist, previously of Newsnight? Your obvious frustration, which I understand and share, reminds me of some of the things that he has been saying for a few years now. In his book, Why It’s All Kicking Off Everywhere, he looks at the rise of protest movements across the world, and argues that there is a young, educated and digital class that feels that future has been snatched away from it. They appear in Tahir Square, the Occupy Movement and I’d suggest that they brought a lot of energy to the debate in Scotland.
Change is gonna come. People are confronted with corrupt and incompetent politicians, serving a class who are as useful and unproductive as they are rich. They know the game is up for them. The crash has exposed them. The question is, how do we get rid of them.
I get the impression that people all over the world were watching Scotland with interest. They know want’s going on. This is a struggle to wrestle power from ‘the centre’ and put it to better use than those who currently weld it.
I watched Scotland with interest. Here was a country, loaded with progressive and social-leaning views, about to break off from the colonialists that had dogged them for a millennium. With a clean slate and the will of the people, it would have been possible to build something that could be seen as the light of the world.
But in the end, the ties that bind (pensions, the price of milk) are what defeated Independence. They’re what killed the light.
Now look around. What future do you honestly see for Northern Ireland? I see a future where the working poor continue to keep their heads down while the political classes play football with the grief of victims. And I’m not playing.
I feel ya!
This is interesting. The young, the unemployed and poor voted yes
http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/ampp3d/scotland-referendum-who-voted-yes-4286743