Scotland's Future
by Unknown - 14:41 on 02 May 2014
In response to Robert Cormack’s letter of 27 th March, to the Orcadian, it can be argued that any White Paper, be it the Scottish Government’s “Scotland’s Future, your guide to an independent Scotland”, or the “UK Government’s 2014 Budget” are wish lists. However, like a written constitution, the white paper gives a detailed analysis of what is possible and achievable. It also allows the other No or Better Together side to come up with an alternative view. Scare and relentlessly negative stories are easily produced. However many of us are still awaiting the alternative view with positive reasons for the status quo.
The UK, like other countries faces many problems. We are surrounded by many other democratic well governed Northern European countries; Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Finland, Netherlands, Germany, since 1945. Whether it comes to public services, transport, education, infrastructure, quality of life, relative equality of their people, these countries have been performing better than the over centralised UK, now the fourth most unequal country, in the world. They have also been careful to avoid the excesses of many wars over the last 20 years. True, the UK does some things well, but could and should be doing much more.
Canada, already has a highly developed federal system of government. The province of Quebec has far more powers than that of Scotland, today. The1980 and 1995 referendums were very close run and resulted in greater devolution of administrative and financial powers. Quebec has turned itself into one of the most prosperous provinces, in Canada. It is not an economic basket case. The Quebecois have much of what they want, with goodwill and give and take, on both sides.
Norway and Finland became independent countries in 1907 and 1917 respectively. These are much better examples of kind the country Scotland could become. Small European countries often do well by sharing sovereignty and fiscal powers in today’s globalised world. They do what best suits their needs.
There are no guarantees for the future of any country, but based on evidence, Scotland will make a good job of governing itself. Scottish finance minister, John Swinney has proved he knows how to balance budgets in difficult economic circumstances.
The vision we have of Scotland is of a fairer, business friendly, better governed, more equal society that values the young, the elderly, the disabled, the unemployed and the underprivileged. Trident renewal, illegal foreign wars and the bedroom tax are not part of this vision. The Referendum on 18th September is for Independence or Status Quo, with more austerity. The big parties would not allow a third option of greater powers or the Devolution Maximum option.
JRM
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