Posted on 01/01/2014 3:29:37 AM PST by Berlin_Freeper
PRIME Minister David Cameron has appealed to Scots to vote to stay in the UK for the sake of their “children and grandchildren” when they go to the polls in the referendum this year.
In his New Year message, the Tory leader insisted it will be the biggest decision Scots have ever faced on 18 September.
He used his message to warn that there will be no let-up in the climate of austerity this year – with a pledge to “redouble” efforts to reduce the UK’s massive annual spending deficit.
Mr Cameron said 2014 would be an “important date in the history of the United Kingdom”.
He said: “The referendum vote will be the biggest decision Scotland has ever been asked to make.
“The outcome matters to all of us, wherever we live in the UK. This is not a vote for the next few years, but a vote that could change our country forever.
(Excerpt) Read more at scotsman.com ...
costly but worth it to get out from under Englands thumb
I’d like to see Scotland gain independence as well.
Ping......
Hopefully the Scots take advantage of this to pull the eject handle and say “see ya, suckers!”
I have a Question.....
I understand that Cameron is a conservative. So, is it that Scotland opposes conservative government in general (and thus favors liberal government),or is it more a national pride thing that they just want their own country back from the English who took it from them?
Ahhhh yes, Rabbie Burns stirring song. I have to say, it causes a “stirring” somewhere deep in my heart. Both mine and my husband’s ancestors were Scottish and I must say that I have always felt an allegiance to Scotland. My heart aches when I read the history leading up to Culloden and the awful years afterwards. When I visited Scotland a few years ago, I could not get enough of just soaking in the beauty of the scenery and the people.
I know I don’t have the right to vote, but if I did, I think I would want to vote “yes” just to reclaim that freedom and national personality that is “Scotland”.
My question in post #6 stemmed from a nagging feeling that maybe Scotland, if independent, would tend towards liberalism which would be tragic. I know that the UK is a socialist liberal government, yet if Cameron is conservative, does that mean that they are beginning to see their mistake and wanting to turn in the other direction?
I am NOT assuming to know the answer to this question..... that’s why I am asking and hoping you can help set me right on it.
The former.
Scotland is far more socialist (or at least has been since the 1950’s) than England. A solo Scotland would be a country of big govt (already is), ‘progressive’ social policy (already is), high taxation. It would not be a nation of small govt, low tax and pro-business that it would need to be.
Some Scots of course want ‘freedom’ because they have been seduced by the spurious nationalist argument that Scotland is oppressed by England and being in the UK.
We have never been under their thumb.
We joined the UK in 1707 (UK/Britain is not the same thing as England), joined, not conquered or pressganged. And Scotland has thrived in the 300+yrs of the Union. We basically ran the Empire, and Scottish society and industry thrived by being part of the superpower that lasted until the last fifty years, and still remains a world power. We have done very well by being part of Britain.
The idea that Scotland is an oppressed nation under English thumbs is a nonsense. Frankly, for a lot of those ‘oppressive’ times, we Scots have run Britain!.
And this actual Scotsman dosent. Better off and stronger as part of Britain along with England, Wales and NI. Politically, economically and socially.
Scots would be the suckers if we left what is a successful, powerful nation state.
We don’t need freedom, we already have it.
We don’t need to assert our Scottishness, as a visitor, you already know how overt we are about our identity. If anything, independence would for many people, inc myself, actually turn the Scots inwards, and we would become a parochial nation, self-satisfied, rather than being part of a bigger whole (the UK).
Well Scotland WAS oppressed by England so tragically and so thoroughly for so many years, I am thinking that they just can’t forget it and forgive it...... even if not doing so might mean their eventual ruin. And I do mean “might”. I don’t know, perhaps Scotland CAN rise to the challenge and make independence work........ but we all know that freedom and socialism are two diametrically opposed ideas.
Scotsman,
Yes, I do see your point and my gut feeling says you are absolutely correct.
When were we oppressed though?.
England tried but failed to conquer Scotland from 1018 to the Union of 1707. They may have invaded us, occupied us, but we ejected them every time.
And as I have said, we joined the UK in 1707, and we have not been oppressed for the last 307 yrs (far from it), despite what Nationalists might tell you.
What was the "Highland Clearances" of the 18th and early 19th century, that we read about in the history books?
That was conducted by SCOTTISH landowners.
I think perhaps the richest and most powerful of the "SCOTTISH landowners" (some of which were previously English who had been awarded the estates for political rewards) were, as we have seen all through history in all countries, greedy and ruthless and wanting more money and power, so they did what came natural to them. But, instead of stopping them, the English government/crown allowed it and promoted it. The crown was happy to rid the land of the "Highlander clans" to avoid future uprisings. Or am I wrong?
.What 'English government/crown' might that be, then?
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