Independence is a trick, full stop. If you are truly a Scot by any definition and determined to claim your Right as a Citizen then please consider this and let other Scots also consider this before we all fall down the same hole again.
AN ANALOGY TO SET THE SCENE
Let me begin with an analogy. Many of us have been married, sometimes more than once or entered into a partnership of some form. When we do this we all have one thing in common; we do not treat this is some temporary arrangement. If we get a license it is not time stamped like a TV license, it is expected to continue. In the traditional service we commit to ’til death do us part’.
So, here is what I want people familiar with one of these institutions to consider. You stand there with you partner and the Minister, Priest or perhaps ship’s captain and face the following:
Q: Have you got a job, can you even afford a home, are there any homes, what if kids come along can you support them, what if one or both of you lose your job, or you don’t have insurance and your house burns down. Do you realise that most marriages fail? chances are your partner will have an affair and leave you, especially if you get sick. You would be mad to go through with this, why not just get a room, live together for a while, think about all this challenges and come back in a generation and we can have another think?
A: But we just want to get married. We trust each other. We recognise the problems and we are prepared to take a chance. We will work it out just like our parents and their parents before them. Surely, we have a Right to get married. Surely we have a Right to trust in each other?
Conclusion: Until we have a satisfactory answer to all these questions we cannot allow you to get married.
The scenario above is exactly the the same as the Referendum scenario. Actually, the Referendum scenario is even worse because we are being told we cannot even think about getting married!
So let’s get real. We decide we want to get married or form a lasting relationship. We don’t ask we tell – Step 1
We understand the risks and the challenges but we decide to go ahead and sort out the problems as they arrive – Step 2
SO HOW DID WE GET INTO THE MESS ABOVE? We were duped into following the wrong approach.
OK-we went to the Minister, Priest, Registrar or the ship’s captain and told them that we had ideas but were not certain about houses, jobs, kids, whether we would get on, what our health was like, in fact we were not really clear about anything but we still wanted to get married?
We were told we were being totally unreasonable, unrealistic and should go away and come back when we are certain?
BUT WHO WAS IT THAT TOOK THE WRONG APPROACH? the SNP treated a Constitutional Right as a political opportunity.
In 2014 the SNP, a political Party, laid out everything they planned to do – effectively our house, kids, jobs, health, feelings etc etc and because Westminster was opposed to this they simply said GO AWAY THAT WILL NEVER WORK
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WHERE NOW?
- The marriage ceremony asks two people to confirm their commitment to an enduring relationship. There are no questions about houses, jobs, children etc
- The Scottish Approach must ask the People if they wish to take full control over their destiny. There are no questions about money, defence, assets, health, pensions etc
- The Scottish people are not required to answer these questions-this is not an exam – An independence Referendum is an exam with a pass mark and a suspicious marker?
- Returning 56 MPs from 59 seats (95%) on a single mandate is unprecedented in the democratic world.
There are two very clear approaches:
- Unilateral Declaration of Independence: UDI
- Exercise of International Human Right: IHR
UDI would be a perfectly legitimate route. Some nations may view this as an aggressive or provocative act, similar to Rhodesia. Ideally Scotland wants Global recognition and unfettered access to trade relations – this may be more problematic following UDI
IHR is the globally recognised and civilised approach-‘International rather than independent‘. A safe and reliable route to establishing our Rights begins with a written Constitution of the People. I am aware of a number or eminent Parties already embarked on this production. I don’t see a conflict here as a final Bill should benefit from the aggregation of all the best components. In summary and from a ‘lay’ perspective here are the principal benefits:
- A Peoples’ Constitution ratified by the Scottish Judiciary applies Rights to every Citizen of Scotland regardless of their attributes
- A comprehensive definition of ‘Citizen’ should give every person the comforts enjoyed by all other Citizens protected by Constitutional Rights
- A Peoples’ Constitution is automatically applied to all living citizens without compromise not opt in/opt out – it is the Voice of the People in Perpetuity subject to the recognised revisions
- The people of Scotland can rely on their Constitution globally
- Any attack on the expression of a persons’ Constitution Rights is an attack on every persons’ Constitutional Rights
- It would be beneficial to list all those countries that enjoy a written Constitution of the People because one of our most potent responses to dissenters is ‘ME TOO’
CONSIDER THIS:
In 2014 we gathered daily stats from our campaign especially feedback from the doorstep. This covered a massive area as we supported adjacent areas. We especially looked at ‘NO’ voters who were often keen to tell us they would not vote for nor liked SNP and they would not vote for Alex Salmond. In general we would not challenge this because it was their opinion and we respected peoples’ right to hold that opinion. However, what was more interesting was what ‘NO’ voters do not say – not a single one in my opinion said they did not like Scots.
It was very clear that many ‘NO’ voters rejected the politics, the politicians and political personalities. I DO NOT BELIEVE THAT WILL CHANGE IF WE ASK THEM THE SAME QUESTION 100 TIMES.
THE JOB OF A POLITICAL PARTY IS TWOFOLD;
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FACILITATE THE PRODUCTION OF A WRITTEN PEOPLES’ CONSTITUTION
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FACILITATE THE WILL OF THE PEOPLE BASED ON THEIR CONSTITUTIONAL RIGHT
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