An invitation and a challenge

I do believe Gordon MacIntyre-Kemp is starting to get it! For years, I've been telling him that burdening the constitutional issue with a multitude of policies was crippling the effort to restore Scotland's independence. He now seems to agree. For years, I have been pointing out that the constitution is not about policies but principles - or "values". Now, we appear to be in accord on this. The answer to the question in the headline - 'Are we getting the messaging wrong on Scottish independence?' - is a resounding YES! If Gordon MacIntyre-Kemp is now starting to realise this, it would be churlish to dwell on the fact that he's more than ten years late.

He still has some way to go. He may have recognised the folly of conducting the campaign for independence as if it were just another electoral contest among political parties and their agendas. He may have realised the wisdom of presenting independence as an end in itself. Something that is right. Something that is a corrective for an ancient and ongoing injustice. Something that is liberating, in the truest sense of that term.

The Union is confinement. Restoring Scotland's independence frees us from that confinement. Is that not something that is worth doing regardless of any other considerations? Should the prisoner choose continued incarceration from fear of the responsibilities that come with freedom?

What Gordon MacIntyre-Kemp still fails to address is the question of process. It is pointless telling people you will make their lives better if you can't explain how you intend to do it. It is futile to urge people to make the bold choice if you are unable to say how you will deliver what they have chosen. People have to be persuaded not only that restoring Scotland's independence is right, but that it is achievable. You can't ask them to do something without telling them how it can be done. They may like what you offer. But if they are not convinced they're going to get it, they will hesitate.

I extend to Gordon MacIntyre-Kemp an invitation and a challenge. I invite him to be the first weel-kent face of the independence movement to endorse the Manifesto for Independence. Alternatively, I challenge him to identify another process by which Scotland's independence might be restored so that the different options can be debated.

The petition demanding adoption of the Manifesto for Independence can be found here.