Why Independence as a "Long Term Aim" is wrong

When Simon Thomas was an MP he suggested that Plaid should aim for an independent Wales by 2050, because I am already well into my sixth decade, voting for a party that promises independence by 2050, would be an altruistic act for me, the chances of my living until 2050 are minimal. In an article on Wales Home Adam Price suggests 2036 as the date that the party should advocate for its long term policy, when I may be a sprightly 77 years old.

Plaid Cymru has seen generations of activists shuffle off this mortal coil knowing that they would never live in an independent Wales, why should I expect better? Shouldn't I too campaign for independence as a long term aim that will benefit my children and my grandchildren after I am gone?

Possibly, but probably not!

I am a realist, I know that Independence has hovered around the 10% +3 -3 margine of error in opinion polls for the last 30 years, so there isn't a great appetite for Independence in Wales at the moment. One of the reasons for this stagnation is that nobody has made the case for independence. And therein lays the problem of kicking independence into the long grass. If we see independence as a long term issue that can be ignored for another 20 30, 50 years, Wales will never be independent!

For either Adam or Simon to be right, for independence to be achieved in 2036 or 2050 we must campaign for Independence Today. Ignoring the issue as something for the long term just puts off making the case for independence until 2036 or 2050 or 2075 or 2974 or 3465 or for eternity!

If there is a case for Welsh independence it should be made today by all who believe in the cause. Postponing the argument as something for the long term is both duplicitous and dishonest!

If you want to live in an Independent Wales move to Scotland!

Apparently nobody understands the concept of an Independent Wales, or so says Plaid Cymru AM Rhodri Glyn Thomas!

Despite being an elected member of Plaid, Rhodri's advice to those of us who support Welsh independence is F*** off to Scotland. When I was a member of Plaid in the 1970's and 1980's that was the sort of sh*t I use to hear from Labour and Conservative dinosaurs whilst canvassing , go and live in Ireland if you hate Britain so much!

This blog has criticised Plaid Cymru's lack of faith in the national cause over the years, but even I hadn't thought that the Party had sunk to such depths that its elected representatives despise nationalists so much that they feel that they should be exiled to Scotland!

What Rhodri is quoted as saying in the Western Mail is clearly incompatible with any description of Welsh Nationalism. I hope that Rhodri comes forward with a press release that condemns the Western Mail for misquoting him and makes a four square case for the national cause!

If he doesn't I would have to ask any nationalist who supports Plaid Why are you in the same party as Rhodri Glyn? Either he should be kicked out or you should move out and help create a true new Welsh Nationalist Party.

Constitutional change isn't esoteric - as the ConDems know!

Whatever the result of the Scottish Independence referendum it will affect Wales for better or worse. Whether it is for better or for worse will depend on how Welsh politicians prepare for the result and that preparation should be made now by nationalists and unionists alike.

Waiting for the referendum result and playing it by ear after the fact will be bad for Wales.

I agree with Jonathan Edwards MP that the Welsh Government should be preparing for Scottish independence and putting forward a coherent vision for the Welsh nation’s constitutional future if Scottish independence happens.

Whatever one's views on Scottish Independence, it is something that could happen within the next few years. Even if Welsh Labour and Welsh Liberal Democrats were willing to bet the national debt on Scotland remaining within the Union, common sense says that Wales should prepare for the effect that Scottish independence would have on Wales if it comes to pass. Not doing so is true fantasy politics.

Peter Black, in condemning Jonathan Edwards for raising the need for the National Assembly to consider the possibility of a YES vote says:

I do know that the most urgent issues facing the Welsh Government today are the economy, an under-performing education system and the health service. Why would any sane minister take his or her eye off those problems to worry about esoteric constitutional issues?"

The ConDem government is only a year and a half old. Since its inception we have had a referendum on the powers of the National Assembly, a referendum on UK voting reform, an act that guarantees a referendum on changes to Britain's relationship with the EU, a Fixed Term Parliament, an act that reduces the number of Welsh MPs by a quarter, proposals for the election of Police Commissioners and withdrawing police control from local authorities, the establishment of the Silk Commission, and Britain being on the cusp of getting kicked out of the EU – that's a hell of a lot of constitutional change from a government who's supporters believe that constitutional matters are esoteric!

Why have the ConDems perused this wholesale constitutional change?

Because they know that constitutional change isn't esoteric – The constitution is the bedrock on which economic, social and ethical issues stand.

Peter Black's opposition to constitutional change for Wales, other than the wholesale changes imposed by the ConDems, is, in reality, an opposition to Wales having a better economic, social and ethical future based on a an alternative constitution to that offered by the corrupt UKanian State that he supports.

The Unacceptable Face of Capitalism

Standards & Poor's is a company, nothing more nothing less; but it has just threatened 15 Euro Zone countries with downgrading their creditworthiness and those sovereign countries are expected to react to this single company's musings by changing economic policies that will affect over half a billion citizens.

When a single company can dictate economic policy to 15 countries and half a billion people, we don't have democracy; we have a tyranny that is worse than that used by any Self-serving Monarch or Evil dictator in the past history of mankind.

The Euro Zone should tell Standards & Poor's to ****** (expletives deleted), make its sort of trading illegal, ban it and stop it from blackmailing democratically elected governments in future.

The answer to the current economic crisis is not to bow to the markets that created and are exacerbating the crisis. The answer is to regulate the markets so that companies like Standards and Poors can no longer profit out of the economic misery that they wish to impose on billions of people for the sake of a fast buck for their few shareholders.