Scotland is becoming it’s own country. With it’s own parliament
and government institutions, Scotland is seceding from the British
empire. Someday Scotland will probably be in the E.U. as it’s own
country, a separate and independent nation, like Belgium and France.

And it is happening right now.  

I was in Scotland for a month this spring, mostly visiting the
fascinating eco-village of Findhorn. I am partially of Scottish descent.  
I’ve enjoyed the idea of Vermont Secession ever since I read “Out! The
Vermont Secession Handbook” as a teenager.  So I asked a lot of
questions about the recent history of Scotland becoming political
independent from England.

Geographically, Scotland is the northern mountainous upper third
of the “British’ island.  Wales is the potbelly facing west in the middle
of the island, and is also on the way to independence.  England is
what’s left over on the map.

“Devolution” is the magic word to describe the gradual separation and disentanglement of Scotland and Wales from England.  I heard this word in wide usage, referring to the dissolution of Britain.

A very savvy bunch of politicians is pushing this secssionist agenda.

They are gradually staking out more power for Scotland, and England is
giving it up. The politicians don’t seem to be fire breathing radicals. I
only saw one politician talk and he wore a respectable suit and didn’t
have his face painted Braveheart style. (Though he did speak in the
nearly incomprehensible Scottish accent that really required subtitles.)  

It is interesting to note that this independence movement
happened nonviolently, and with what I heard called “typical British
gradualism’, which I think means, one step and decree at a time,
passive-aggressive style.

And it helps that Scotland has all the oil from the North Sea.      

Scotland has its own parliament. This came into being recently. It
had been talked about for years, and then finally was summoned into
being though the leadership of one man who is now revered as a
nationalist hero.

Scotland is acquiring actual power to look after it’s own interests.
Recently, the Scottish parliament said no to building new nuclear
power station.  This is darn sensible.  Scotland is windy, and any power
investment not involving windmills seems foolish.

Young men in Scotland talk as if they got a lot of their national
identity from watching “Braveheart.”  I didn’t hear a kind word for the
English in a month. The talk had a bit of sports fan quality, and a touch
of regional pride, like I remember hearing out of myself and friends
when we’d say, in thick, imposed Vermont accents, “We’re from
Vermont, we do what we want!”

The history of Scottish and English relations set the stage from
an eventual breakup. British history has always been about the
arrangement of clans and feudal powers and empire assembling and
dis-assembling.  The Scottish are just the last colony of the English
empire getting free.

The Scottish were involved in a sort of rowdy clan system for
centuries.  The English used this system against the Scots in the
1800’s during “the Clearances.” (Like in Afghanistan these days and
always, the English divide and conquer, turning faction against faction,
picking favorites among the clans to collaborated with.)

“The Clearances” is a bloody chapter of history that has bad
karma seeped into the ground and collective memory.  The English
swept through the Scottish highlands, murdering the small farmers
called “crofters” and driving folks off their land.  Ghosts are still said to
haunt certain houses where really bad events went down. This great
trauma still stings in Scottish memory. The Clearances are a source of  
long-standing resentment of the English and fuel today’s
independence movement.

What can Vermont learn from Scotland’s example of getting out
of Empire?  First and foremost, political independence from a long-
standing alliance is possible.  Second, Scotland has a stronger history
of being a separate nation than Vermont. Perhaps regional history and
identity should be encouraged. Third, gradually taking back of power,
(i.e state’s rights”) is a viable strategy. Fourth, form a ‘national congress’.
Fifth, find a big stash of oil in Lake Champlain.

Increasingly, as the United States goes down the tubes as a teetering Empire surrounding our diseased capital in Washington, we in Vermont are well-served to pursue independence. If America continues it’s belligerent, self-interested, unilateralism, Imperialist trajectory, we should secede. Pull
our taxes and support from the beast.  

I always thought Vermont independence was a pipe dream, but
Scotland has pulled it off, so why not us!?!  US out of Vermont!
Vermont out of the Empire!

Overall, I’m for freedom and unity. Sometimes that means getting
out and sometimes that means getting in. (Paradox.)

This depends on whether the central political organization serves freedom and the well-being of the whole.

For now, Yes on a free Vermont!
And, Aye! on a free Scotland!