Today in Scotland, the country's electorate will decide whether to remain a part of Great Britain, or if instead they will opt for independence after 307 years.
According to the polls, fully fifty-two percent of decided voters favor remaining in the union, while forty-eight percent of them favor the big split. However, the operative phrase here is "decided voters". Fully four percent of all voters are undecided, which might conceivably make all the difference, especially taking into consideration the margin of error, which must be considerable.
I feel that more than likely the Scots will stay where they are at, although it will be uncomfortably close, and there will doubtless be cries of fraud and other shenanigans.
However, just on the off chance the Scots decide to go for independence, they should be aware that it is not going to be an easy transition. In fact, things might go downhill fairly quickly. One possible bad sign is that one of the major motivations of independence supporters is that the Brits, at least economically speaking aren't-gulp-liberal leaning ENOUGH! To be even more specific, they dislike what they see as the constant attacks by the Brits on what has been described as their beloved welfare state.
However, they reassure us that they are more than capable of supporting themselves. After all, they have a lot of oil. You know, like Venezuela.
Good luck, boys, you're going to need it. Especially seeing as how many of the bedrock businesses in Scotland have threatened to leave Scotland, and one in particular has already opened offices in England in preparation for what might amount to an inevitable move.
It's worthy of comment that President Obama, arguably America's most liberal president ever, has spoke in favor of continued British unity, and this seems to be the defacto position of the US Government in general. After all, there actually seems to be concern as to who will be granted custody of Britain's nuclear arsenal, a great lot of which is evidently housed in Scotland.
Of course, there is one group of people who are more in favor of British unity than the Americans. They are, of course, the Brits, to say nothing of the elites within Scotland itself, who fear the loss of their privileged status within British society in the event Scotland becomes an independent nation. Accordingly, they and the British have engaged in what many have decried as a fear campaign in hopes of derailing the independence movement, which seems to have gained more momentum over the course of the last few weeks.
If that momentum wins the day, then the Scots might find out that, in the words of the following song, appropriately enough-it's a long way to the top. (especially if you've been there and now you're starting over from scratch).
