Dear Dirty America

MICHAEL J BLAIR
Perthshire, Scotland

The recent Scottish National Party conference has passed with barely an unpleasant word spoken. Certainly not within earshot of the party faithful. This would be treated as a hate crime against the party. No criticism will be tolerated!

credit: Universalis

The delegates and the independence junkies gather to listen to like minded people telling them exactly what they want to hear. This is not a healthy state of affairs. In other political parties, there is room for different ideas from different wings of the party members.

In the SNP there are no different wings, just one central message making machine, which has to be obeyed at all times.

As long as the message of independence is adhered to, any abuse of anyone with the temerity to question the logic of the party, will be accepted and excuses made for the abusers of people with differing political views!

There also appears to be a policy on Twitter which is to block anyone who may be critical of the SNP performance or of individual MP’s or MSP’s. I’m certainly persona non grata in the twisted illogical world of Big Sister!

The only reason for the existence of this political party is independence for Scotland from the rest of the UK. So this aim cannot be allowed to be watered down or changed in any way!

Any hint that a second independence referendum is going to be put on the back burner, is met with total hostility and immediate vilification. Big Sister has to keep this message to the forefront in order to keep the more rapid party members happy.

She knows full well that the majority of the Scottish public have no appetite for another protracted and very divisive campaign, but she also knows that it has to be kept simmering away. So it’s something of a tightrope for her to balance upon as she rallies the “troops” in her main speech at the end of the conference weekend.

The SNP are using the uncertainty of the UK’s position on how to get the best deal on the split from the EU. Because the majority of Scottish voters opted to vote to stay in the EU, the SNP logic is therefore Scotland doesn’t want to leave the EU. But because it was a referendum on the UK’s position, the majority of the UK voters decided to leave the EU and that included Scotland.

Big Sister is busy annoying European leaders to try and keep Scotland in the EU despite the referendum result.
She has been told on several occasions that this isn’t possible. She also wants to have direct involvement in any talks about the terms of learning and doesn’t seem to understand that it was a UK decision, so it has to be the British government that has to do the negotiating with the rest of the EU.

Being told no about anything, doesn’t go down well with Big Sister and her cabinet of nodding donkeys. They have no concept of the idea of not getting their own way on everything. They have been used to running the show in Scotland for years without any real opposition, and no is an alien word.

There is now the problem of trying to govern Scotland without an overall majority. There have even been defeats in the Scottish parliament on a variety of issues and that has gone down like a frog smoothie!

In life, we all know that we cannot get what we want, whenever we want it. But in SNP political circles, this is not something which is dealt with rationally. Toys thrown out of the pram and red faced tantrums are not unusual if they don’t get their own way.

Donald Trump is a prime example of this type of behaviour, and he’s not even a politician!

I know I and many others feel that we have a very paranoid party in government. Criticism of the ruling party is part of living in a democratic society. Not taking criticism well, is the politics of the insecure. These people can only live with praise and the total obedience of their adoring supporters. For politicians to be so thin skinned and unable to understand or accept different views, is very worrying.

Are they afraid of being, God forbid, wrong? Do they think that if a hint of common sense gets through to their members, they will immediately turn on them and hold them responsible for the dire state of Scotland’s railway system?

That it might be the fault of the SNP government that the creation of Police Scotland has been an unmitigated disaster?

Could the same treatment of the fire and rescue service, be the fault of the SNP’s desperate need to control everything?

The blame for the education shambles can be laid firmly at the door of Big Sister’s palatial office.

The list goes on and on. But it’s never their fault. It’s always somehow the fault of the last Labour influenced coalition, or the Westminster government or the bias of the BBC or STV news reporting. Responsibly is never taken!

Scotland needs a government strong enough to admit its mistakes and take responsibility. Not just one which will bask in the glory of its few achievements!

Follow The Party of Common Sense on Twitter, at @tpocs

ALSO BY MJ BLAIR

Vote Bollocks Or Water Buffalo

Out Out Out! What’s next after Brexit?

The Brexit Turkeys have come home to roost

[UK and Scotland graphic courtesy of Universalis, Wikimedia Commons; Ripped Yes posters header courtesy of Connie Ma; Wikimedia Commons]