Why I Am Voting Yes, by Ian Carse
by Unknown - 14:42 on 30 April 2014
I am voting Yes in this year’s referendum because I believe in you, your family and friends and your capacity to make this country one of the most successful countries in the world with an enviable record of peace, prosperity and inclusiveness.
Voting Yes is a big decision but so are many decisions we all have to take in our lives – starting a business, getting married buying your first house, having and bringing up a family etc – all present challenges and all force us to overcome difficulties in the early years but we face these challenges and the majority make a success of it all. Just look at Orkney’s record of leading businesses, enjoy the number of anniversaries publicised locally and rejoice in the accolades our citizens bring to this county. The same will happen in an independent Scotland because you and your family and friends will make this country successful on all fronts.
At a local level what this will mean for you and your family can be characterised in what we will happen now with our new hospital. The process of reaching a decision was tortuous and at times a rancorous process but now that the location has been settled, the funds are falling into place and the community is behind it all we all know that Orkney will end up with a first class facility which we all feel part of and which others will envy.
So it is with the process of voting Yes – after we vote Yes on 18 September the discussions will begin with the rest of the UK, the United Nations (UN), the European Union (EU), the Commonwealth, a range of businesses and other key organisations to establish Scotland’s place with them all. Then we will vote for the first fully independent Scottish Government in 2016.
When it comes to voting Yes on 18 September think where your ambitions lie and remember you will be voting for a country that will be in one of the wealthiest nation’s in the developed world with the highest AAA rating from the financial rating agency Standard & Poors, have a non nuclear government elected by proportional representation with a system to give life to the ideals of Our Islands Our Future and a written constitution so that you can hold your elected representatives to book and inclusive policies to make fairness and equality the cornerstones of our nation once again.
Your country will also take it’s place alongside the small independent nations of the world who number 90 out of the 193 members in the United Nations (UN), 12 out 28 nations in the European Union (EU) and 32 out of the 53 countries who make up the Commonwealth with your own voice in each of these organisations and elected representatives who can stand up for what you and your country need - unlike today where the needs of Scotland can often differ markedly from the rest of the UK and our distinctive needs are not pressed upon others because Scots are not in the vanguard of these debates – and if you don’t believe me think of your own situation and that of your family and/or business to decide if there has always been fairness in what you have experienced as part of the UK?
Ian Carse
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