FionaK |
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| I suspect that the unionists are once again out of touch with what is happening here.
I believe that devo max would have been a popular option if it had been on offer at the outset. But it was not. People were forced to think about the binary choice and it is my impression that the electorate have really engaged and have come to the conclusion that independence is a better choice than devo max. I also think that devo max is the minimum which might have persuaded people to reconsider: but devo max is not what is on offer at all
To me the real factor is the rebirth of democracy. For many years people have felt that their vote makes no difference and this is reflected in falling voter turn out at elections. This has been blamed on the voters' "apathy" and there is much hand wringing about it from time to time. But it is not apathy. People are quite correct in their judgement that a choice between neoliberals and neoliberals is no choice at all. Despite the professed concern about lack of participation it suits the parties very well and they have been encouraged to believe they can do what they like and that they know best: the best being what they are told by their corporate masters. This was Gordon Brown's big failing: he swallowed neoclassical economic theory in toto. I honestly think he was a believer: which does not excuse him in any way because as a historian he was in a position to recognise where that leads.
Politicians and big business people live in bubble and they are bemused to find that their certainties are not shared by people outside it. They genuinely find it hard to believe that anyone can be so "unrealistic" as to imagine there is an alternative to ceding power to the wealthy and to establishing and defending plutocracy
In this country people are suddenly aware that there is an alternative and they are engaged. That is the evidence that there i no apathy and it is also the measure of the fact that the people are not fooled: they were correct in thinking they had no power within the UK. They are also correct in thinking that can change.
I believe that is the big change and that independence is the only way to implement those aspirations. No amount of devo within the UK will achieve it and I think that is increasingly widely recognised. I do not think this offer (if it is an offer, which I doubt) will change that perception. We have too much experience of lies and broken promises: too much knowledge of how elitist and self serving our politicians and the very wealthy really are.
I continue to think that this reaction reinforces the case for independence and that will be plain to all. I do not think many who have moved to a yes position will move back. Not even those labour supporters they are trying to influence. I really do not think they understand the nature of this movement, at all
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