In 24 hours Ill have voted and my journey to Yes will be complete. :) Two years ago I didnt know and didnt care, and wouldve voted No if I was pressed for an answer. I had only ever voted for Labour or the Lib Dems, and didnt see the case for an independent Scotland. These past couple of years Ive become more politically engaged and aware, and Im now overwhelmingly convinced by the case for Scottish independence (in case you hadnt noticed). It seems so obvious now. Scotland will be better off being fully governed by sensible Holyrood instead of sensational Westminster. Holyrood has been a huge success and delivered for the people here on devolved policies including: education, health, housing, law and order, sport & arts, and the environment. But its not enough! Its budget is controlled (and cut) by Westminster, and it has absolutely no say in reserved matters including: benefits, immigration, pensions, employment, foreign policy, trade and industry, oil and gas, renewable energy, data protection and the Constitution. We have everything to gain by decentralising power from the current corrupt, elitist and plurocratic establishment to our transparent, fair, and progressive local parliament. It wont be perfect, but it will be a huge improvement. Scotland is a country, not a region, and it deserves to get the government it votes for. Holyrood uses a fair proportional representation system (as opposed to Westminsters first past the post system), which means a range of parties and views are represented. An independent Scotland has the natural and human resources to be prosperous, and the governmental infrastructure in place to make it happen. Were not too wee, too poor, too stupid - were just as capable of running our own affairs as every other small northern European nation. We can build a country that works for the people that live here. Doing this rocks the boat and you can bet that many higher-ups (bankers, media moguls, politicians, big businesses) wont be too happy that theyre getting a smaller piece of the pie. Take what they say with a pinch of salt, use your head, and keep in mind that everyone has a vested interest when theyre trying to persuade you to either side. There will be short term uncertainty with negotiations and decisions to be made, but this vote is about the long term future. I am convinced that Scotland will be a fairer, healthier, happier and more prosperous society if it can operate in the world as a normal independent country. In the Economists Where to be born index, the UK barely makes the top 30. I want quality of life to improve here so we can join the other small countries in the top 10. If Finland, Denmark, New Zealand, Norway, Sweden, Switzerland, and the Netherlands can do it - why cant we? We might not be big, but we can be fair and we can improve the lives of the millions of people living here. Im not afraid of change, I want to embrace it. Im voting yes tomorrow because I want to make a real difference.
Posted on: Wed, 17 Sep 2014 15:42:04 +0000
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