It isn't the Economy (stupid)

'It's the Economy, stupid', said Bill Clinton during his presidential campaign. Well, some people would like us to think that the Scottish Referendum is about 'the Economy' or more precisely about 'what's in it for me' (as shown in a ridiculously biased TV programme the other night) with in particular the misguided query 'but can we use the pound?' There is also of course a fear of sudden change and a number of people who are thinking that if we vote 'Yes', we will wake up on the 19th of September in a different county and with nothing - financial or otherwise - working.

This is of course quite wrong. The 19th is when the serious work of negotiation will start - changes will be worked out by people of goodwill (and there are a lot of these around, despite the extreme polarisation shown on TV) and the detailed plans will be made for the eventual transition in 2016. This vote really is not about 'the Economy' or the currency, but the current economic situation has MADE IT POSSIBLE to imagine, vote for, plan for, implement new futures in an Independent Scotland.

So, a couple of weeks back, I made a little poem that some friends have already seen. So here it is now, with a little revision. (Like everything else I write, it's still 'draft'.)

It’s not the economy (stupid)

It cannot be about ‘Economy’.

The siller matters, yes, in what it shapes;

the way we’ve gone - like others of the west -

creating worlds of trade and bold adventure,

through works of skill, of measurement and making,

of hand and brain, to make a wealthy nation,

(resourced by wind or oil or electronics)

has caused some things to happen. That is so.

Which lends, now, possibility: A choice;

that chance that so few other lands may take,

a vote enabled, not compelled, but free.

that’s where we are now – where we’ve worked to be.

To take a place to stand,

to choose, make a decision,

place a cross on paper, cast a vote,

so many things are possible.

Three hundred years ago, it was not so.

Scotland, bankrupt, betrayed by ‘allies’,

one outcome only, union. The economy ruled.

But that is past, three hundred years ago.

Time and tide move, turn and change, return

By Solway, or by Firth of Forth or Tay

we come to vote on who we are, today,

and who we could be, with so many, shared,

histories we’ve made with lands abroad

and lands so near -

India, France, Ireland, England, Canada -

we travel still, cast nets of words and wit,

explorers of the globe, we look beyond

to new horizons or to weel-worn paths

to each shape our new meanings.

Because you vote now:

not for a government, or a budget spending,

not for a generation, or a small line seeing,

but for three hundred years, or more, your visioned view:

of lives, of futures, dependent now on you.