Those of us who are married, middle aged and set in our ways are the most likely to vote in political elections. At a rough guess I reckon that between parish, area, county, Assembly, British, European and referenda, I have voted about 45 out of 46 times since I was 18.
The one I missed out on was on 18 September 1997 the date on which my Mother in Law had a heart attack. My wife and I accompanied her to the hospital, and by the time we left the hospital the polling stations had closed and three definite YES FOR WALES votes were never cast.
Ever since the opponents of devolution have claimed that those who failed to vote in favour of devolution are tacitly opposed to devolution, people who couldn't be bothered!
I wanted to vote Yes, my wife wanted to vote Yes, My mother in law wanted to vote Yes, other members of the family would have voted yes, but were deprived of voting because of family circumstances!
My failure, to vote yes in 1997 could not have been further from the truth of the antis claims about those of us who failed to vote!
If you support Welsh Self Determination – vote YES if you can; because if you don't, those monsters who hate Wales will claim your vote as their own in the same way that they claimed my patriotic mother in law's heart attack as a vote in favour of their hatred of Wales!
No it's not a hatred of Wales Miserable old git, it's preserving the collaborative process of Wales and the UK both agreeeing to new laws since both a.m.'s and M.P.'s represent Wales. If it was only a.m.'s their would be a far stronger case.
ReplyDeleteAnon - why does all the 'agreeing' have to be done in London, then?
ReplyDeleteTime for Wales to grow up, gain some self respect, and say 'We CAN do this!'
Hey, I've been an observer of British politics for some time now, and I'm curious of the Welsh and Scottish nationalists: would you guys like a decentralised federation instead of the devolved unitary state in Great Britain & Northern Ireland, or would you prefer outright independence?
ReplyDeleteA good question that is easier to ask than to answer.
ReplyDeleteThe national parties in Scotland and Wales include those who want enhanced devolution, decentralised federation and independence; they also contain people who, want independence but believe that the evolution of devolution and / or creeping federalism is the way to go for independence.
And then there are those of us who see devolution and federalism as a hindrance to the core cause of independence.
I suppose tht the uniting factor is wanting more than we have now, even if we are not agreed on how much more, or what more is!
The answer is that when we get something that a clear majority are in favour of then we will be happy. We didnt have it pre-99, or post -99. We didnt have it in 2006, and while some people will be happy with the 2011 settlement, many will not be.
ReplyDeleteWe still have a majority who want to go forward - I want independence and am happy to do this one step at a time - but this is not our final destination. Some people will be happy to stop at federalism but it is not on the table today.