“Is the entire Scotland, armed with computers, barcode scanners, and the Internet, less capable than one barely literate man and his ten soldiers?”
oh they will get there eventually. Maybe in 2022 when they finally issue their own drivers licenses.
think of how well obamacare has gone - that’s just one program
before “independence” scotland has to set up the equivalent of: the IRS, social security administration, medicare, medicaid, food stamps, head start, subsidized housing administration, USPS, ... none of these things exist as separate entities in scotland right now
how long do you think it will take to do that little lot ?
Six months top. All done in parallel, by different people. For example, how much time would you need to set up a postal service if you already have local carriers and trucks and offices? (I don't think that any of that is done by personnel that drives to work every morning from London.)
All this had been done on more than one occasion in history. It will be easier today because you can borrow best practices from similar systems of other countries. They will be even happy, for a small fee, to send you some of their experienced people to get you started. None of this is rocket science. It's actually rather trivial. In many cases all that needs to change in the org chart is reporting. Do not forget, human resources are plentiful, and most are already familiar with their jobs, no matter if they are "separate entities" or subdivisions of some department of UK. Physically, the social worker and the mail carrier and the policeman are all local people. Now they will have a local boss, and the local Treasury will be financing them.