I was talking to some folk on twitter last night and it helped to sort my problem of why I was voting SNP. For as long as I remember I wanted Independence for Scotland. I even stood for it in a debate in college in 1968. I lost the debate, Nationalism was not very popular in those days, especially in Aberdeen.
I have never been a great supporter of the SNP except for one policy, Independence. I am much more at home with the Liberals and then grudging the Liberal Democrats. That was until May 2010 when my trust was shattered and remains so. On twitter last night, amongst others, I meet a guy called Andrew and he writes a great blog http://scottish-liberal.blogspot.com/ I thought your views are similar to mine but you stayed in the LibDem party. How many others are there from all parties who want independence who have stayed in their parties or like me who have left and voted SNP but whose's heart is not really in that party. Not as because they are voting as a protest vote but because they want Independence and see no other way of obtaining it.
One of the founding principles of the Scottish Labour Party was Independence but as soon as they got into power, it vanished. Now they do everything to talk it down. They talk about how great they are because they brought in Devolution and a parliament back to Edinburgh and rightly so. It was a huge achievement but it is not what they stood for a very limited parcel of powers but the main power still remaining at Westminster. They 'big hitters' looking down on Calton Hill and the MSP's as being second class. Thinking if you want real power you need to be in Westminster, the centre of the political universe in the UK.
The LibDem's are no better. Since the 19th century pushing Home Rule for Scotland. I not sure exactly what it meant. Was it Independence or was it as it became when I started to follow them in the 60's, Federalism. Where is the vision of Federalism or as it is now called Home Rule. In the past 6 years, the LibDem's will of have had 3 commissions, starting off with The Steel Commission reporting in 2006. Then according to Willie Rennie they were the instigators of the Calman Commission and now we are to have a Home Rule Commission headed up by Menizes Campbell. Are we any clearer as to what they mean by Home Rule. Why in 6 years do they need 3 commission to sort out their views? What was their policy for Scotland in the last Westminster & Holyrood Elections? Why after over a century of pushing for Home Rule do they still not have a vision of it?
Does this latest commission not smell of fear. They, as with all of the unionist parties, were profoundly rejected last May, the Scottish people totally rejected Calman. They also rejected what the LibDem's as a party had become after the Westminster farce. Willie Rennie is now saying Calman was only step along the path to more power, who heard that in the election, not me? If this was true why did we not hear it? If it is true does that mean every 2 or 3 years more power will be fed to us by a benevolent Westminster government, prompted by the LibDem's? Or does it mean that Westminster will try to give us as little as possible to stave off the threat of independence. They tried that with Calman and it was thrown back in their faces.
The LibDem's do not seem to be genuinely keen on more powers when you hear the likes of Danny Alexander & Michael Moore talking down Scotland, saying how as a country it could never be Independent. If we did we would be poor without the money from the Banker in London. I must say, if Independence does come, I would find it hard to vote for a party with those two 'rouges' in it.
The cartoon which appeared on Rennie's with or without his consent again amplifies the views in the party about Scotland and independence.
Where does this all leave us, coming back to my original argument of 'Why does the SNP own Independence'? The simple answer is because they are the only ones calling for it. Those of us who support other parties but also want it, feel that they must vote SNP. Who if independence goes ahead will vote 10 years after it for the SNP or will it be a spent force? Maybe it will depend on how the other parties, the ones called the Unionist parties behave before the vote.
Why can't we the voiceless become more vocal? Why can't we not get together and say to our parties, we support you but not on this issue. You must listen to us, get back to your roots and start supporting those policies that the party were formed on. Let us have our own voice on how Scotland is to be shaped and not leave it to those who have vested interests and who have been proved time & time again that they cannot be trusted.
In the 60's the SNP were called the "Tartan Tory's", maybe there are conservative out there with independence views but they have no history of it, having been called the Unionist Party in times gone by. If they are, they would be welcome to join.
Come on then lets speak up. Lets show people that the SNP do not own Independence, we own it, LibDem, Labour, Greens, & Conservatives and other parties own it.
I have never been a great supporter of the SNP except for one policy, Independence. I am much more at home with the Liberals and then grudging the Liberal Democrats. That was until May 2010 when my trust was shattered and remains so. On twitter last night, amongst others, I meet a guy called Andrew and he writes a great blog http://scottish-liberal.blogspot.com/ I thought your views are similar to mine but you stayed in the LibDem party. How many others are there from all parties who want independence who have stayed in their parties or like me who have left and voted SNP but whose's heart is not really in that party. Not as because they are voting as a protest vote but because they want Independence and see no other way of obtaining it.
One of the founding principles of the Scottish Labour Party was Independence but as soon as they got into power, it vanished. Now they do everything to talk it down. They talk about how great they are because they brought in Devolution and a parliament back to Edinburgh and rightly so. It was a huge achievement but it is not what they stood for a very limited parcel of powers but the main power still remaining at Westminster. They 'big hitters' looking down on Calton Hill and the MSP's as being second class. Thinking if you want real power you need to be in Westminster, the centre of the political universe in the UK.
The LibDem's are no better. Since the 19th century pushing Home Rule for Scotland. I not sure exactly what it meant. Was it Independence or was it as it became when I started to follow them in the 60's, Federalism. Where is the vision of Federalism or as it is now called Home Rule. In the past 6 years, the LibDem's will of have had 3 commissions, starting off with The Steel Commission reporting in 2006. Then according to Willie Rennie they were the instigators of the Calman Commission and now we are to have a Home Rule Commission headed up by Menizes Campbell. Are we any clearer as to what they mean by Home Rule. Why in 6 years do they need 3 commission to sort out their views? What was their policy for Scotland in the last Westminster & Holyrood Elections? Why after over a century of pushing for Home Rule do they still not have a vision of it?
Does this latest commission not smell of fear. They, as with all of the unionist parties, were profoundly rejected last May, the Scottish people totally rejected Calman. They also rejected what the LibDem's as a party had become after the Westminster farce. Willie Rennie is now saying Calman was only step along the path to more power, who heard that in the election, not me? If this was true why did we not hear it? If it is true does that mean every 2 or 3 years more power will be fed to us by a benevolent Westminster government, prompted by the LibDem's? Or does it mean that Westminster will try to give us as little as possible to stave off the threat of independence. They tried that with Calman and it was thrown back in their faces.
The LibDem's do not seem to be genuinely keen on more powers when you hear the likes of Danny Alexander & Michael Moore talking down Scotland, saying how as a country it could never be Independent. If we did we would be poor without the money from the Banker in London. I must say, if Independence does come, I would find it hard to vote for a party with those two 'rouges' in it.
The cartoon which appeared on Rennie's with or without his consent again amplifies the views in the party about Scotland and independence.
Where does this all leave us, coming back to my original argument of 'Why does the SNP own Independence'? The simple answer is because they are the only ones calling for it. Those of us who support other parties but also want it, feel that they must vote SNP. Who if independence goes ahead will vote 10 years after it for the SNP or will it be a spent force? Maybe it will depend on how the other parties, the ones called the Unionist parties behave before the vote.
Why can't we the voiceless become more vocal? Why can't we not get together and say to our parties, we support you but not on this issue. You must listen to us, get back to your roots and start supporting those policies that the party were formed on. Let us have our own voice on how Scotland is to be shaped and not leave it to those who have vested interests and who have been proved time & time again that they cannot be trusted.
In the 60's the SNP were called the "Tartan Tory's", maybe there are conservative out there with independence views but they have no history of it, having been called the Unionist Party in times gone by. If they are, they would be welcome to join.
Come on then lets speak up. Lets show people that the SNP do not own Independence, we own it, LibDem, Labour, Greens, & Conservatives and other parties own it.
Gerry
ReplyDeleteMy own instincts are similar - when living in England I regularly voted Liberal/LibDem. Of all the candidates in my constituency in May 2010, the LibDem was by far the most committed to social justice and other values I hold dear, so I voted for him.
And yet, on the National question, I've been a supporter of independence since the 80s.
In the event of Independence, politics will realign, likely some steps to the left of where it is now. In that environment, the SNP's uniting principle achieved, its coalition of independence supporters with varying outlooks on other political matters becomes redundant.
If the SNP have the astuteness they frequently show flashes of, they'd commit to self-dissolving on Independence Day +1 (or at least: to not stand for the 1st post independence General Election, recognising that a caretaker govt is needed).
This will enable them to campaign for independence as almost an apolitical political party, and draw in people such as you and me and our equivalents across the spectrum, without requiring us to permanently abandon our natural political homes.