The Legacy Wallace Left

By: Alex Watson

October 14, 2013

On July 2nd, 1776 the Second Continental Congress of the Thirteen Colonies approved a resolution declaring independence from Great Britain. Two days later, they signed their names to a document, knowingly affixing their own fates with that of their fledgling nation. In 339 days, the Scottish people will have a similar opportunity.

However, their vote for independence will take the form of a legal, peaceful referendum. Everyone living in Scotland over the age of 16 will answer a straightforward yes/no question on their ballot: “Should Scotland be an independent country?” Yet the simplicity of this query does not reflect the ease with which Scots will make their decision. To understand why, we have to begin with Mel Gibson.

Braveheart placed the legend of William Wallace back in front of the public eye. Though the film is clearly a product of Hollywood, focused on entertainment rather than complete historical accuracy, it does not fail to capture the motivation behind Wallace’s actions: freedom.

I choose to believe that the film won five Academy Awards, including "Best Picture" and "Best Director," because Wallace’s belief in personal and national independence resides deep in the heart of every American. His haunting, otherworldly shout for freedom during his disemboweling is spine-tingling and elicits images of the sacrifice our founding fathers were willing to make.

That feeling is the same one we experience at every national sporting event, hands over our hearts, the closing line of the "Star-Spangled Banner" reverberating through our chests. We are Americans, and we are proud of living in the land of the free. The real question for Scotland is whether more than 50 percent of voters today experience the same visceral emotion mulling over a politically sovereign state of their own.

Since Wallace’s lifetime in the late thirteenth century, and officially upon the unification with England in 1707, there have been calls for Scottish home rule. Yet only beginning in 2011 has the Scottish National Party (SNP), established in 1934, been the majority government in the Scottish parliament. The present moment is the best chance the country has had at independence, and members of the "Yes Scotland" campaign alongside the SNP are working hard to capitalize on the opportunity.

Saturday, September 21 marked the Rally for Scottish Independence in Edinburgh, Scotland’s capital and home to nearly half a million people. So when Police Scotland estimated that just over 8,000 people were present—an accurate representation from my experience there—I was stunned. How could only about 2 percent of the city’s population attend such an event only a year from one of the country’s most meaningful decisions in a few hundred years? For the sake of Wallace, I needed to find out.

I started by casually broaching the subject with Scottish friends in my apartment complex.

“What are your thoughts on the independence referendum?” I asked. A sampling of responses follows:

“Bad idea. We have oil that will last for 30 years. What do we do after that?”
“I like England! They have a strong economy which means so do we.”
“We are doing well, why vote to change that for the unknown? The SNP has no plan.”

I followed through on "Yes Scotland’s" Answers Section of their website, hoping maybe they had explanations my friends had simply missed. Here is one:

Q: “Can Scotland afford to be independent?”

A: “Scotland is a country rich in resources, and undoubtedly has what it takes to be a more prosperous and fairer nation.”

The vagueness of this answer is disheartening and speaks directly to the pertinent questions the Scots were using as explanations for planning to vote "No." In fact, as of 2013 and depending on the poll, only 25 percent to 44 percent (the latter figure comes from the SNP) of people in Scotland actually favor independence.

If you think William Wallace was rolling over in his grave before, just wait. Another Q&A from "Yes Scotland":

Q: “Would the Queen still be head of state in an independent Scotland?”

A: “The Scottish Government’s proposal is that the Queen remains Head of State in Scotland…”

The myth goes that on July 4th, 1776 King George III of England wrote in his diary: “Nothing of importance happened today.”

Something tells me that Queen Elizabeth II’s journal entry on September 18, 2014 may not differ too drastically.

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