Those wanting Scottish
Independence say it is the only way that Scotland can have social justice.
For many of them this goes
very deep and is the main reason they want independence.
But - What do they mean by
social justice?
They want a utopia where
all are equal, where there are no “haves and have nots”.
Where there are no rich
and poor
Where woman and men are
equal
Where all races are equal
Where all children have
equal opportunity
Etc etc etc
Being reasonable people
they realise that a total utopia is not possible, but they want to strive towards
one as far as is possible.
I don’t think anyone would
disagree with this as an ideal – I certainly wouldn’t.
The Scottish Nationalists
are a very idealistic lot. They themselves would agree that they are romantic
dreamers, who think with their hearts and not with their heads.
So why do they believe
that independence will enable them to achieve their utopia?
If there is a "yes for
independence" vote next month, it will not give them power to do what they want.
The opposing factions will first have to come together. The main political parties in Scotland -SNP, Labour,
LibDem, Green and Conservative will have to come together and negotiate a
divorce settlement with the rest of the UK.
Then there will be a
general election in Scotland.
The SNP might win this, in which case they will have a
few years to try to implement some of their policies.
However – traditionally -
Labour is the strongest party in Scotland, and it is quite likely that they may
win and the SNP having achieved independence, will disappear.
This perhaps is the nub of
the matter
For decades now – the
majority of Scots have voted labour and the majority of English have voted
Conservative. The small variations in this, decide which party governs Britain.
If the 2 countries split up
- England will get successive Conservative governments and Scotland will get
successive Labour governments.
Conservatism is a belief
in Capitalism
Labour is a belief in
Socialism
This is why many Scots
want independence. They want Labour and socialism and social justice. The irony
is that under Tony Blair, the Labour party came to accept that a certain level
of Capitalism is essential to make the wheels go round, just as modern day
Conservatives realise that it is essential to have a certain amount of
socialism.
The 2 party’s beliefs are now
so similar and middle ground that they keep stealing each other’s policies.
Yet the dreamers in
Scotland still carry the old fashioned way of thinking.
They also feel that a great
injustice is done to Labour-voting Scots when the Conservative party is in
power, although the English do not seem to feel the same way when the Labour
Party is in power.
Those wanting independence
believe that if they get independence, there will never be another Conservative
government in Scotland again. They are probably right.
They view the Conservative
party as being an English party, a party of rich landowners and old aristocracy.
The types who had their heads cut off during The French Revolution.
They would like to remove
these perceived “rich English landowners” from Scotland.
They already have plans to
cap the amount of land any one person can own.
This would perhaps be
their first step towards social justice.
However – what the
dreamers cannot see is that Scotland is no different to England.
People throughout the UK are
all the same. There will always be those who do well, by fair means or foul, and
those who don’t.
Those who will immediately
do well in an independent Scotland will be in Government and related
bureaucracy. They will have a field day awarding themselves high paid jobs, and
the same corruption will occur as elsewhere.
There will be the same
corruption between those in Scottish business and those in Government.
Scottish business will
still behave the same as always – having battles with the workforce if
necessary as recently happened at Grangemouth when the SNP Government was forced to
side with industry to protect precious, Scottish jobs. Reality
had to over-ride idealism.
Property developers such as Donald Trump will still get their way over the wishes of the people but with the support of Mr Salmond and The SNP Government
Scottish banks – the few
that do not take their business immediately out of Scotland – will still behave
in the same appalling way.
Landowners (in the cities and country)
will still charge horrendous rents and behave badly.
Catholics and Protestants
will still fight at football matches in Glasgow.
People will still be
horrible to those with physical or mental disabilities.
There will still be a
large Scottish debt which will require continued austerity.
It will still be necessary
to target benefit cheats and cut back on the public sector bill
There will still be food
banks.
But - The hated bedroom
tax can be abolished and replaced with something less divisive.
Perhaps a mansion tax will
be one of the first things that will be implemented – A real Robin Hood gesture
The SNP – like all
dreamers - promise many things that will improve the lives of the less well-off. However - they will not have the money to pay
for it. We will be no better off after independence than we are now. In reality
we may be worse off.
They claim that we will
have North Sea Oil to pay for everything – but the oil is almost finished and
what is left is increasingly expensive to get at.
At present we have The
Barnett formula which gives every person in Scotland more than every person
gets in England. That will end.
An independent Scotland
will have to tax everyone in Scotland more than at present, and the government will still not be able to spend as much as they do at present.
The Labour party under
Tony Blair governed the UK for about 10 years. Was there a noticeable improvement
in social justice during those years?
Why will it be any different
if we are independent?
Neither the Labour party in England or in Scotland back independence.
The dreamers seem to think
that independence will allow us somehow to avoid all the problems going on in
the UK. But those problems are part of Scotland too and will be there after
independence
However - A problem shared is a
problem halved.
As part of the UK,
Scotland can much better deal with whatever horrors the world and mankind may
throw our way
Social justice is better
fought for as part of The UK
