Posted on 09/14/2014 5:04:18 AM PDT by the scotsman
'Alex Salmond has said the independence vote is a "once in a generation" opportunity as he pledged not to quickly bring back another referendum if Scots choose to remain in the UK.
Commentators have been predicting a "neverendum" if the No campaign wins on Thursday by a narrow margin, with nationalists calling for a new independence poll within a few years.
As a series of polls indicate the vote remains too close to call, Mr Salmond was asked if he could pledge not to bring back another referendum if the Yes campaign does not win on Thursday, he said: "That's my view. My view is this is a once in a generation, perhaps even a once in a lifetime, opportunity for Scotland."
He added: "Harold Wilson famously (said) one vote is enough in a referendum but we're not aiming to win by one vote, we're aiming to achieve a substantial majority if we can."
If you remember that previous constitutional referendum in Scotland - there was one in 1979 and then the next one was 1997. That's what I mean by a political generation. In my opinion, and it is just my opinion, this is a once in a generation opportunity for Scotland."'
(Excerpt) Read more at huffingtonpost.co.uk ...
Just got back from a vacation to Edinburgh. Informal poll I took asking Scots I met were overwhelmingly No.
can you confirm one thing I heard? One guy told me normal voting age is 18 but the Yeahs managed to get a special rule just for this election to drop age to 16.
Is that correct? If so, seems they will be getting the dummies to vote for independence.
How many 16 year olds have their act together?
My Scott ancestors have been fighting for centuries for independence from England’s forced rule. From William Wallace to King Robert Bruce. Scotland has fought for its freedom from England’s oppression.
This got all tied up in the succession to the throne since James 1 who was Elizabeth 1 heir.
Time it happened. Would we as Americans except Brit rule again?
There are al old grievances which have little to do with the here and now.
The reality is how would Scotland benefit from secession? I think that the would be more free to shitcan all of the political correctness coming out of London, though I think that is unlikely.
There needs to be a serious examination of the potentials for Scotland. The upside, and the downside. Not just a vote, for the sake of voting. Which it appears that this is. I haven’t seen a plan, we are going to to X by this date, and Y by this date, we are going to implement Z reform immediately.
The exodus of capital out of Scotland in advance of this vote indicates that this is an emotion driven referendum, not one with a credible plan for success in the event of a YES outcome.
That the view from the cheap seats in the diaspora anyway.
The only reason the Yes side surged in the polls was they convinced Labour voters that the Tory government in London was about to cancel the National Health Service, so they better leave the UK to save their socialized medicine. Now that people realize that wasn’t true, the No side is rising again.
It has always been an emotional driven desire for freedom from the Brits. First it was the Romans, then the Brits. http://www.scotland.org/about-scotland/scottish-history/
It may not on the surface of the news we get spell out all the XYZ of the process, but these are not stupid people. They know what they want. Freedom.
Yes I know they have a titular Prime Minister, Parliament, and control of their courts, but the TAXES still go mainly to the Brits and parceled back to Scotland.
The Brits fear the rest of the UK union will want their freedom, their own country, and the right to live FREE of another unwanted boot heel on their necks. Just as we did.
Ask yourself if you’d reverse the American Revolution and take SOCIALIST Brit rule back? That is the real issue in the long run FREEDOM to be their own People free of England’s rule. Can they still be a collective collation, each with their own country, yes.
I wonder if either Prince Charles or his mums Liz are raising an army to march north as Edward the Hammer would have done?
England used to produce such men.
Now they have Cameron and will get what they deserve.
As is well trod territory here on FR, Scotland leaving will flip the remainder of GB back to a conservative controlled country.
England my yet regain her manhood and her greatness.
But what the heck do I know?
More than GailA and her Braveheart fantasies.
Correct.
Shameful gerrymandering which the NO camp should not have agreed to. However, the buzz is that that very age group will REJECT a Yes vote on Thursday. Which would be so sweet.
I am Scottish. Every native Scot ancestors fought against English (and other) aggression. BUT we made peace and joined together 307 years ago, and built the (imo) greatest country in the world, the greatest Empire the world will ever see, and we built the modern world.
Scotland JOINED the UK in 1707, of our own free will.
If you don’t know the difference between Britain and England, you will struggle from the start. England is not the same as ‘Britain’, ‘Great Britain’, the United Kingdom, UK, GB etc.
Britain/United Kingdom is England, Scotland, NI and Wales (or some perm of the four). We Scots ARE British.
We ARE FREE!. We have never been unfree, we JOINED THE UK, of our own free will. And even by union in 1707, we retained much of what makes us Scottish. We don’t need freedom, we already are. Rejecting separation and staying in the UK on Thursday dosent change that one iota. Its because we are free, that Scots can reject the YES vote, and freely and proudly remain Scottish and British. They are not mutually exclusive.
Scotland has the right to raise its own taxes (funny that the SNP govts at Edinburgh in seven years have never used the option once), and after Thursday and a NO vote, will get even more tax and other powers. Scotland already has control of its own affairs (Westminster handles national issues of the UK as a whole) and will get more powers. Whilst remaining a strong part of a strong UK.
Don’t be silly, Scotsman. You Scots, like us English and the Welsh and northern Irish too, are all being oppressed by the horrible Brits!
Yes, Elizabeth II is a veritable tyrant.
Really, the Scots are fools if they vote for independence. They have the best of all possible worlds as part of the UK.
They live under the UK's [relatively] strong foreign defense and benefit immensely from the billions that the London money-machine feeds to them every year.
And, all the while, they are free to celebrate their heritage and try to restore their ancient language. They are not oppressed by any definition of the word.
Your last sentence hits the nail on the head, ancient Scotland was a mix of peoples and languages, Gaelic as THE Scots language and the Gael culture as the only culture is revisionist nonsense.
I am an Ayrshireman, so the Britons/Brythonic people were my ancestors mainly. I have some Gael ancestry via my mother. But the Gael culture and language does not define me completely.
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