Scotland Decides: The Twofold Principle At Work

The individual must be free to act and the will of the people must be respected. On Wednesday and Thursday this week, that is what happened.


I'm glad they chose "no" but it was a pretty close call and change is going to come as a result unless the powers that be want a referendum to be called every couple of decades. The fact is, we saw democracy at work because people cared enough to get out and vote. Here in England they don't care so much; turnout tends to be low because people don't feel represented by the parties that there are. That's because they're all stuck in the left/right dichotomy as if there was no choice between Socialism and Capitalism. Of course there is — it's called Middle-out and I'm shouting it from the rooftops because it's what we need to get the economy to work for all of us, not just the privileged few.

I'm glad no one took an authoritarian approach to the Scottish question. They were willing to trust the Scots to make their own minds up. All I ask is that the rest of us are treated with the same level of respect. I don't get that from the Conservatives, the Socialists, or the Liberals; each of their philosophies tends towards authoritarian paternalism, a my-way-or-the-highway approach that puts me off them altogether. I value my freedom and I'd appreciate it if the various political parties vying for my vote valued it too. The fact is, Labour are committed to increasing surveillance in the name of copyright and the Four Horsemen of the Infocalypse (now with a minimum wage of £8ph!); the Tories will do the same and will continue austerity while the Liberals have a sure-fire winner (they think)... lower taxes on the low earners! Erm, won't reducing tax revenues give them less money to dish out in welfare? As usual, they haven't thought it through.

As I've noted before, the protest parties are garnering the votes of disaffected voters because they've identified the bad guys (whether they're correct about them or not) and convinced their voters to see them as the problem. For me, the bad guys are neoliberal free market enthusiasts, you know, the people driving austerity and choking up the market with IPR protectionism. Those people. Any party that takes that bunch of hypocrites on will get my full, unwavering support.

I've been invited to the launch of the new Pirate Party office in Manchester on Thursday this week, where I look forward to promoting Middle-out economics and discussing the direction the party is taking.