The No Campaign
One
of the main reasons why the Scottish National Party (SNP) have done
well in recent elections has largely been due to the tone of their
message in recent years. They provided an optimistic vision for
Scotland while Labour, the Liberal Democrats and the Conservatives
all spent their time scaremongering about how the world will end if
the SNP get into power.
The
anti-independence booklet sent out by the Westminster government
doesn't disappoint and is basically full of scaremongering. They
start by going into the economy and how Scotland couldn't keep the
pound the way we have it now. Fair enough, no argument from me on
that. However they talk about the 'strength' of the Bank of England
and to anyone who knows anything about fractional reserve banking and
fiat currency we know that that is nonsense. We are forced to pay an
inflation tax because our money (issued by the Bank of England) is
essentially worthless because it is backed by absolutely nothing.
Central banking is a threat to true freedom worldwide and that fact
needs to be recognised. It's funny because later on in the booklet
they talk about how in 2008 they were able to provide Scottish banks
with “support worth more than twice Scotland's national income”
hmm, could they mean the Royal Bank of Scotland bailout? With
taxpayer money? Which clearly sends a message to the bankers that
they can pursue whatever ridiculous business model they like and
daddy government will slap them on the wrists and make sure that
everyone can walk away bonus-in-hand. In a truly free market without
government providing this kind of corporate welfare these bankers
wouldn't be able to act in such a manner unless they actually wanted
to lose everything.
The
financial scaremongering goes on with the claim that somehow an
independent Scotland would slow down trade with the rest of the UK.
Are you shitting me? In an era such as ours where we can trade and
share information with ease like we've never known with the rest of
the world is the UK government serious in this criticism? There isn't
going to be some kind of lake of fire between Scotland and the rest
of the UK.
It's
also pretty funny when they begin to defend the public institutions
that we couldn't bear to lose. Like the BBC, wouldn't it be terrible
if we weren't forced to pay for a TV licence (regardless of whether
you watch the BBC or not) for a state-controlled institution that has
been declining in quality for years. Yes, that would be a tragedy. Or
the passport office, we couldn't do without the passport office, wait
is that the same passport office where there were massive delays and
problems this year? Oh that passport office, yes then who would fuck
up if we lost that?
Then
we get to the part about how the armed forced “keep us safe” so
we couldn't possibly lose that. Well if the British armed forces were
there to keep us safe why are they fighting a losing war in
Afghanistan (a country that poses no threat to us?) If the armed
forces were purely there to keep us safe then they would be a
defensive army which they blatantly are not.
Since
we're talking foreign policy the booklet also informs us about how
the UK is the second largest aid donor in the world. I am a big
supporter of charity but private charity. Giving tax payers money to
foreign countries when our own is going down the toilet makes no
sense. We were even giving money to India when they were working on a
space program! It sounds like some kind of sick joke and I wish it
was.
The
booklet starts to taper off with talk of how great the EU is (see my
article a Spectre Is Haunting Europe... to see why it is a very
dangerous thing) and the UN and the G7 and G8 and G20. Amusingly they
claim that the UK can protect Scottish industries like agriculture
and fisheries, we all know that those are EU policies and the only
way to protect those industries is not to be the big man in the EU
but to get out of it completely.
It
then ends with a whimper about what a successful family of nations we
are and the usual empty promise of 'more powers' for the Scottish
parliament if we toe the line and behave ourselves and then it's all
over and if you see through the statist lies and appeals to emotion
and tradition you realise that there are many flaws in the argument
and we haven't even got to the pro-independence mob yet.
The Yes Campaign
The
pro-independence people are indeed an optimistic and socialistic
bunch. Their booklet is an altogether more personal affair with names
and pictures of ordinary Scottish folks just like you telling their
stories. On the second page we meet a mother who says that a yes vote
would mean that her kids would be entitled to government money for
her kids childcare so she can work. Sounds nice right? But wait, here
I come to be a huge downer as usual. Why does she deserve tax payers
money for having kids? But that aside for a moment, if we didn't have
ludicrous government hurdles to jump over to start a childcare
facility then costs would go down. I hear you now screaming about how
then the kids will be left with psychopaths all day. Did you never
have a teenage neighbour babysit your kids? My wife did that for
years and shock horror not one child came to any harm. I myself was
minded by a neighbour who watched local kids for a while and again
the sheer shock that not one bad thing happened to me. Now to be mean
in the eyes of my friends the socialists. Life is about personal
responsibility, if you decide to have kids then you should plan how
they will be cared for. Now, of course there are harsh an unforeseen
circumstances and I have no problem with helping people who are
genuinely in a bind but in the booklet it talks about every child
being “entitled” to childcare. I can feel the taxes beginning to
rise already and we're only on page two!
On
the next page the socialism continues with the first of more than one
of the English born people who are supposedly supporting
independence. We meet Bob standing in a questionable area who
campaigns for something abstract called “social justice”. Bob
basically wants a welfare state (not good already, for the evils of
the welfare state see my article “Against The Welfare State and
It's Promoters”) that doesn't attack the vulnerable and poor
whatever that actually means. He continues with his vague notion of
everybody being equal. Well we know that's not true. I'm not equal in
terms of playing football as, say Gareth Bale. Should we go down the
road Kurt Vonnegut sketched out in his short story Harrison Bergeron
where the government enforces equality so for example ballet dancers
are weighed down and their faces covered to hide their beauty? It is
an extreme example but there is a truth there about how
egalitarianism drags people down instead of raising people up. We are
not all equal, sorry to hit you with the truth but that's a fact
every one of us is inferior and superior in some way to everyone
else. Shocking. There is another fan of welfare we meet later called
Scott funnily enough and the words put in his mouth are similar,
vague notions of that “social justice” thing and something else
called “democratic life”. He's also under the impression that
with independence Scotland would be run by people that will do the
best for the country. I would love to know about a government in the
world that does things on behalf of the country and not the ruling
elite and their friends. Separating from the UK government doesn't
change the nature of government, politicians will still be in it for
themselves and their donors and they always will be. Sorry Scott.
But
across from Scott is the real appeal to emotion in the form of Mary.
Mary is old and broke a bone in her leg and she's worried about the
NHS being privatised. It is an uphill battle for us freedom lovers to
try and convince people that we are not better off with the NHS.
Socialised medicine keeps us down and limits treatment choice (see my
article “Time For A Voluntary NHS?”) Mary talks about living
abroad and seeing people “sell their homes to pay their health
bills.” Well Mary if we didn't have institutions like the NHS and
the BMA (British Medical Association) and had a totally free market
in healthcare then let me tell you, there would be affordable
healthcare the way you like it and nothing close to the ridiculous
waiting lists that exist for procedures now. I know you may fear that
any rogue could call themselves a doctor but with independent rating
agencies the quacks would be out of business soon and with recent NHS
scandals of improper treatment of patients we know that they are not
whiter than white.
So
when we get to the end of this booklet it takes a bizarre utopian
turn where we are suddenly reading stories about Scotland in 2020
when everything is just fucking amazing for everybody with an
accompanying graphic which reminds me of online social hell-hole
Habbo Hotel the last time I saw it. Finally, the yes campaign have
pulled out the crystal ball they've been hiding up their kilts and
are letting us in on the future. It's amazing, in the future the
government is awesome and everything they did just worked out. These
fictional stories are full of praise for the state, even Barbara who
is supposedly a business owner who runs the most popular pub in town
is doing well because the minimum wage has been raised (see our
podcast “Does The Minimum Wage Do More Harm Than Good?”) So now
we can see that yes, there will be a tartan utopia finally!
Conclusion
So
what have we learned from these little bits of propaganda? Well the
no campaign are scaremongering as usual about how awful it would be
if we don't have the Westminster daddy government and the yes
campaign are talking about how amazing it would be if we don't have
Westminster daddy government but how great it will be if we have
Edinburgh daddy government. Either way it is all statist nonsense. It
is a useless argument about which state is better. I would love
Scotland to go independent with no government whatsoever but I am
being discouraged by the socialist leanings of the yes campaign. Now
I understand that Scotland is traditionally more left-wing than
England and this is a problem. Stay in the UK and deal with the same
shit or go independent the way the yes campaign want and deal with
their shit.
Neither
campaign addresses the issue of freedom or liberty, they just want to
give us new state models and until we forget the notion of daddy
government and grow up then a yes or no vote is meaningless, same
shit different government.
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