Scots Terrified Establishment, In End, Establishment Won

Edition of Thursday-Friday, Sept. 25-26

Editor’s Note: Cooperstown’s Scott Buchanan, formerly this newspaper’s graphic artist, is living in Scotland.

EDINBURG, Scotland

Forty-five percent of the electorate in the highest turnout in modern political history voted for change, and didn’t get it.

Fifty-five percent voted in fear of change, but change for the worse is what they shall have.

The political landscape of the U.K. has been fundamentally changed by the referendum debate. Questions on sovereignty and home rule are now on the forefront of every voter’s mind. The Scottish National Party, masterminds of the referendum, have received a 30-percent spike in their registered membership and will likely obtain a majority government at the next Scottish parliament elections in 2016.

In 2015, however, the right-wing Conservative party will win a majority in the greater U.K. parliament, riding on their success in “saving the Union.” Once again the Scottish vote will make no difference and the immensely powerful central government will be thoroughly anti-Scottish in its platform. Scotland will be forced from the E.U. by a Conservative supported in-out referendum. Whatever your thoughts on the E.U., you must find it unpalatable that a nation would be forced from it by a centralized government.

When Prime Minister David Cameron signed the Edinburgh Agreement, setting the Scottish Referendum in motion, he never would have dreamed that he’d win by only 10 points. As the day of the referendum approached and the polls suggested that voters may just choose to leave, his panic was palpable. But as it turns out, the polls were too optimistic.

The “yes” vote hinged on the “missing million” – typically disenfranchised voters, untouched by polls, who had never voted before.

These included groups like the very poor, the very young and the recently immigrated. But the strongholds of these demographics, the larger cities of Scotland, went against the trend and had lower turnouts. Glasgow, the biggest city in Scotland, had a 75 percent turnout. The turnout for the whole country was over 85 percent.

Scots have voluntarily thrown away their only bargaining chip. The grandiose promises of politicians during the campaign have lost their incentive. The Scottish people can bring no meaningful influence to bear on politics for the foreseeable future. Their local devolved government will be crippled by incoming budget cuts and the bloated central government will continue to effectively ignore their votes.

That’s it. The battle is over. The result was a fair and accurate representation of the people’s will. That the odds were stacked against Yes by the pure capital of billionaires, established politicians and a shockingly biased media is meaningless. Other than the BBC, whose bias was illegal, these news companies had every right to act in their own self-interest. It is a fault of the electorate that they allowed themselves to be manipulated in this way.

For a short time, Scotland terrified the establishment more than anything ever has in its modern history. In the end they were too strong, and we failed.