What Will the Scots Do?

 

About independence, that is. Right now, no one has a clear idea of how the referendum vote today will go. The latest polls suggest a slim lead for the ‘no’ vote. There are some indications that support for the ‘yes’ vote may have peaked too early last week. But there’s no clear picture on the horizon.

What is clear is what a ‘yes’ vote will bring. Scottish “independence” (the quotation marks are necessary, as I’ll explain in a minute) means the dissolution of a 307-year-old political union between the then-kingdom of Scotland and the then-Kingdom of England, Ireland, and Wales into the United Kingdom. Proponents of the referendum, like Scottish premier Alex Salmond, point out that Ireland left the union some time ago and has prospered since. So will Scotland, goes the argument, especially once the newly independent nation sheds the livery of London and takes on that of Brussels and the European Union instead.

That argument ignores history and current reality. Ireland’s membership in the United Kingdom was obtained by conquest; Scotland’s by consent in 1713—no matter how ill-begotten. Britain had to maintain that union repeatedly by force of arms; Scotland’s has been a matter of peaceful cooperation at least since 1745—and even that revolt against British rule was sabotaged as much by Scots determined to make the Act of Union work as by the Duke of Cumberland’s dragoons.

This Anglo-Scots cooperation, including in government, is what made the Scottish stamp on modern history as important and sweeping as it has been (you can read all about it in my book, How The Scots Invented the Modern World). If it was the Scots who built the British Empire, including in North America, it was the English searborne trading links that got them to every corner of the globe—and the English intellectual revolution of Locke and Newton that made thinkers like Adam Smith, David Hume, and Dugald Stewart possible.

It was also the English constitution of liberty that unleashed the Scottish genius for politics and lawmaking—and made Scots the genetic ruling class of Great Britain (just ask prime minister David Cameron or his predecessor, Gordon Brown).

That’s history. What about current reality? The frustration with an over-centralized, over-bureaucratic administration of every aspect of life from London is real and understandable. But Alex Salmond and his cohorts only promise more of the same — and, as Scots found out during devolution, being mismanaged by politicians in Edinburgh doesn’t feel any better than being mismanaged by ones in Westminster.

In fact, Salmond is promising to double down on the welfare state dependency that’s ruined Scottish life and the country’s prospects these last few decades, while promising to pay for it with higher taxes on the wealthy (who won’t stick around to let it happen) and with royalties from North Sea oil wells (which are running dry)—even as Scotland’s biggest banks will light out for the border in order to stay linked to the Bank of England.

In short, Scottish independence has been sold to the credulous by the dishonest, and to the lazy by the self-deluded. That’s not a Scottish tradition; in fact, it’s remarkably un-Scottish. The whole thing smells more like something cooked up at a meeting of the radical members of the Greater London Council, with strong whiffs of the Fabian Society and the Cambridge Apostles. If the Scots vote yes, you could say they’ve become more English than they thought.

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There are 12 comments.

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  1. Misthiocracy Member
    Misthiocracy
    @Misthiocracy

    Like.

    • #1
  2. Paul A. Rahe Member
    Paul A. Rahe
    @PaulARahe

    It’s not Scottish. It’s positively Irish.

    • #2
  3. user_51254 Member
    user_51254
    @BereketKelile

    As the day approaches I find it more exciting to see how people will vote. Ricochet members can also participate by “casting” a vote here:

    https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/PKRTZ35

    • #3
  4. No Caesar Thatcher
    No Caesar
    @NoCaesar

    It would be useful to read George MacDonald Fraser’s The Steel Bonnets which shows the “benefits” to the Borderers of a separate Scotland and England (and the shifting alliances of same).  It took James VI/I to bring an end to the Reivers.

    • #4
  5. Misthiocracy Member
    Misthiocracy
    @Misthiocracy

    Public Drunkedness Will Still Be A Crime After The Vote

    • #5
  6. Charles Mark Member
    Charles Mark
    @CharlesMark

    Paul A. Rahe:It’s not Scottish. It’s positively Irish.

    Expand?

    • #6
  7. user_313423 Inactive
    user_313423
    @StephenBishop

    The similarity regarding Ireland and Scotland and their absorption is they were both failed states.

    Interestingly they kept their own identities and we not absorbed into a greater England.

    • #7
  8. Charles Mark Member
    Charles Mark
    @CharlesMark

    Stephen Bishop:The similarity regarding Ireland and Scotland and their absorption is they were both failed states.

    Interestingly they kept their own identities and we not absorbed into a greater England.

    I’d be interested to know when Ireland became a “failed state.”One thing I do know is that the Act Of Union didn’t count for anything when the Great Famine struck.

    • #8
  9. Leigh Inactive
    Leigh
    @Leigh

    I’m seeing a “yes” voter claim that tons of her undecided friends came down on the “yes” side.

    Take with many grains of salt.

    • #9
  10. Umbra Fractus Inactive
    Umbra Fractus
    @UmbraFractus

    As of right now it looks like “No” is coming in stronger than anticipated, though they’re still counting.

    People were talking before about what might happen to Cameron and Milliband if they “lost Scotland,” but now I’m starting to wonder what Salmond’s future might be if the nationalists view him as having blown the opportunity.

    • #10
  11. user_3444 Coolidge
    user_3444
    @JosephStanko

    Scottish referendum: Voters to reject independence – BBC

    COMMENTS (7)

    Breaking news

    Scotland will vote to stay in the United Kingdom after rejecting independence, the BBC has predicted.

    With 26 out of the country’s 32 council areas having declared, the “No” side has 54% of the vote, with the “Yes” campaign on 46%.

    • #11
  12. Misthiocracy Member
    Misthiocracy
    @Misthiocracy

    Umbra Fractus: People were talking before about what might happen to Cameron and Milliband if they “lost Scotland,” but now I’m starting to wonder what Salmond’s future might be if the nationalists view him as having blown the opportunity.

    Considering how he weaseled away in a private jet after the vote rather than facing his public, I hope his future holds very little for him.

    • #12
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