Let me start here by stating that politics is the art of compromise. In addition, there is a big difference between studying current affairs and studying politics. Politics is also much more than winning elections and a successful study of politics necessarily involves understanding the subject matter of politics, people and how they make decisions. What comprises the biggest barrier to a proper understanding of politics is ideology, because ideology produces inflexibility in people and an unwillingness to compromise. That is the major commonality between the left and the right. As both left and right draw their sustenance and their certainties from ideological positions, they both proclaim 'the truth' which gives rise to politicians endlessly parroting that what they are doing is the right thing to do.
I have always had a lot of respect for people from the committed left of the political spectrum because I have always found that they are thinkers and are drawn to politics mostly from altruistic motives. However, as they immerse themselves in politics they get drawn into ideological positions and tend to lose sight of why they entered politics in the first place, and I am saddened by the left's hostile opposition to independence. I have been discussing the referendum with various friends who are all on the left, and was speaking with a communist this morning, and I have to say that their arguments lack any coherence; they don't make sense. The proper left are all committed to rejecting independence and remaining in the union. The best known of these spokespeople is George Galloway and what they are arguing is, in effect to continue with a system of austerity, foodbanks, benefit cuts, zero-hours contracts etc. Of course they are totally opposed to any of these things, but they don't have any solutions to offer as they are not prepared to compromise. The only solution they offer is a non-existent class solidarity with working people in the rest of the UK, the very same people who are increasingly turning, not to the left, but to the far right and UKIP. In other words, they are still waiting for the revolution which is always just over the horizon. You see, a No vote is a vote for the Tories because even if Labour win in 2015 they are already committed to the Tories austerity programme. A No vote is a vote for change all right, but the kind of change that should frighten any intelligent person.
The committed left are purists, they are the political equivalent of the Jehovah's Witnesses. They demand all or nothing and every hint at a compromise is regarded as a betrayal, as a sell-out of principle. I have been repeatedly told that I am betraying the working class by voting Yes, which is quite ridiculous. Theirs is the politics of tunnel vision and it is sad, because it is a betrayal of politics, an activity they regard themselves as masters of, when in reality they have not even begun to understand it. They curiously argue the same contradictory position as UKIP, a virulent hostility to one union, the EU, and a demand for a different union within UK. The left are fixated with Alex Salmond and the SNP and do not seem to grasp that in an independent Scotland, if Salmond does indeed govern as they think he will, he can easily be voted out, whereas it has been graphically demonstrated since the Second World War that it matters not a jot to Westminster what the Scottish electorate do. What we have in Westminster is three neoliberal parties all vying for the permission to govern over an economic system that has demonstrably failed. There is no choice on offer there but that is what the George Galloway's of the world want us to choose, between bad and worse.
What ideologues cannot grasp is that change has to be incremental, it has to be at a pace that the general public can accept and absorb. Change on the scale of national independence must be governed by baby steps because the public who are not obsessed by politics must understand the change, why it is happening and what its implications are or they will not accept it. Too rapid change brings a sense of dislocation, what sociologists call anomie. If we do get a Yes vote then following independence major change, indeed any change, will have to be implemented slowly, carefully, and with the maximum of explanation as possible. This is the major difference between being political and understanding politics. It is no use arguing with someone who is ideologically committed, they are impenetrable. My communist friend is a lovely person who despises the Tories but is, in reality going to not only vote with them next week, but vote for them. By voting Yes next week I will be compromising, and that is the only real choice we have because the status quo is no longer an option, that is politics.You have been warned.
Your Servant
Doktor Kommirat
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