Without having any real bearing on my life, I have to admit that I find the upcoming Scottish Independence vote endlessly fascinating. For a few reasons.
One one level, the UK's constitution-less, democracy is such a novelty onto itself, so any systemic change is the wonk version of watching a slo-mo version of Jenga. Those of us raised in a stable constitutional Republic have no idea what's going to happen. We can only watch the wobble and wonder.
On a more specific level, this is watching a version of our own fringe impulses play out in HD. Whether it's certain Southern states who periodically have propositions on their ballots calling for succession. Or the liberal parties where I've heard people idly talk about either allowing the Southern states to succeed or calling for the coasts to succeed and form their own union. Scotland is the reality. However, the other reality is that this is only possible in a parliamentary system where third-tier parties can affect wide change in a matter of years and make a Shakespearian power grab. The Scottish National Party is a far left party that has almost no influence in Whitehall but holds absolute power in Scotland. Labour and the Tories have been harried out of Scotland, with as much totality as Bishop Laud harried the Puritans out of England. So the SNP and First Minister Salmond are able to carve out their own fiefdom within the UK but, as so often happens when upstarts take power, they see no end to how much power they COULD have. If they would only stick their courage to the sticking post. Ask Aarron Burr.
First Minister Salmond thinks he has a shortcut to being Prime Minister Salmond. I know that that is slightly slanderous, since we can name plenty left wing leaders who wish to escape right wing control during Republican years, and vice-versa, based mostly on sincerely held beliefs and not personal ambition. I have no good reason to assume that Salmond is any different.
I just have my assumptions.
(I have more to write about this but wanted to do it in pieces, this one just meant to set the scene.)
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