We have that in America too, y'know

[neadods]

I have strong opinions about the Scottish Referendum today, although I've kept my mouth shut in the sure knowledge that nobody in a position to be personally affected gives a damn what Jane Q. American thinks. (Secession is not as academic a concept as you'd think over here; 140-odd years after the Civil War, we've still got states threatening to secede. You could set your watch by how often Texas brings it up.)

So, I'm watching the news today, specifically the Telegraph's liveblog, and I just hit a quote that made my jaw drop:

Moira Love, a 49-year-old mobile hairdresser, has never voted in an election before. But she is voting Yes because “Scotland is one of the wealthiest countries in the world – and yet we’ve got food banks”.

First off, yay for you Moira. Honestly. Voting is a powerful, important tool as well as a right.

But second... America's also one of the wealthiest countries in the world, and we've got food banks all the hell over. Seriously, everywhere. Government ones, private charity ones, church soup kitchens, from sea to shining sea. With our independence, with total control of our natural resources, with our vast wealth as a nation We. Have. Got. Food. Banks.

If Texas ever actually puts its citizenry where its mouth is and reestablishes itself as an independent nation, y'know what it's going to have?

Oil.

Cattle.

And food banks.

Comments

[neadods.livejournal.com]

I'm really not sure what you think the debate about Scottish independence is about

From what I've read, the yes vote is about:
- complete control of natural resources (specifically oil wealth)
- complete control of governance instead of an England-tilted Parliament
- lower taxes/no austerity because no money will be going to bail out the debt of England
and more along those lines; gain complete fiscal/political control within its own borders against a theoretically combination government that in practice does not practice what is most important to the people within said border, instead imposing unwanted and likely unnecessary strictures on the populace of the border.

Absolutely none of which is remotely unfamiliar to America, considering that Texas cites those exact reasons to threaten secession on a semi-annual basis.

The countries I've seen cited in the British press as examples of what an independent Scotland could become seem to tilt towards Norway and Denmark.

Both of which are members of the European Federation of Food Banks.

And that is why my jaw dropped. Because I do not see any concrete connection between leaving the UK and eliminating food banks, as Moira implies.

[shaggydogstail.livejournal.com]

I'm sure you must be aware that Texas and Scotland are pretty much polar opposites when it comes to politics. Control of oil resources matters to the independence campaign because Scottish people want that money spent in the (relatively) poor people in Scotland, which relates to the elimination of food banks. Control of goverance matters because successive Tory governments have broadened the gap between rich and poor at a rate only bettered by the US, despite the people of Scotland consitantly returnimg one or no Tory MPs, preferring instead to vote for parties that favour more social equality, which relates to the elimiation of food banks. I've no idea where you get the debt argument from, because Scotland would take on a share of the national debt in the even of independence - it would, however, be unlikely to deal with this by continuing this the Coalition's austerity measures because those austerity measure have lead to a huge uptake in food bank usage.

When we talk about food banks it's not just about the food banks themselves, it's about the grotesque social injustices that make them necessary. Those injustices are perpetrated by parties that Scottish people do not vote for, but have been powerless to stop prevent forming governments. There are some independence campaigners who are all about Scotttish Nationalism for Nationalism's sake, but the cause would never have got off the ground without pragmatic independence campaigners who feel that Scotland cannot have government that reflects Scottish people's socialism/social democracy whilst attached to England and it's Conservatives.

Most EU countries have at least a few food banks, but the UK and Germany are the ones with massive increases in their numbers since the recession, both wealthy countries with right-wing governments. The Nordic nations aren't socialist paradises, of course they're not and neither would Scotland be, but they do have more just systems.

I'm not even in favour of independence, but I do respect the motivation behind the campaign. It's not like Texas. It is about food banks.

[shaggydogstail.livejournal.com]

Lol, please pretend their aren't about a million SPaG errors above, it's way past my bedtime!

[wendymr.livejournal.com]

If LJ allowed likes, I would be liking the hell out of this comment :)

[legionseagle (from livejournal.com)]

Yes, well, I don't suppose Texas ever regularly returned a Communist elected representative, as Glasgow used to do. Although Alex Salmond has ties to some fairly right-wing economically hardline types, the fight in the heartlands has been based on promises that independence will bring a decisive leftwards swing (and by leftward, contrary to the opinion of idiot-features in the Atlantic, I do not mean centre-left by US standards, I mean left by Scottish standards.

[neadods.livejournal.com]

I wish the US had a true left. We need it badly.

[legionseagle (from livejournal.com)]

To be absolutely honest, after reading this ("How dare you have a democratic process based on an 85% voter turnout and a 97% voter registration when terrorism's so much more picturesque?") as the last straw on top of a pile of other manure, I've not got the energy for discussing this with anyone from the US at the moment.