The world waited with bated breath while Scotland toyed with their historic referendum on independence.
Scottish citizens voted overwhelmingly to stay as part of the United Kingdom with a voter turnout of more than 85 per cent, an unheard of number in democracies today. But then again, this was a serious matter.
It was a matter of destiny.
If they had voted to leave the mantle of Britain, it would have ended more than 300 years of English rule and the beginning of a new chapter in Scottish history of which Braveheart would be fiercely proud.
With a ‘no' vote, Gordon Brown's government who had been electioneering into the final days before the historic vote are now forced into honouring any promises made to enhance the regional powers of the Scottish parliament.
Regardless, with a 55 per cent saying ‘no' to separation, the majority spoke and while the future of Scottish/UK relations will change and the political cost to Brown's ruling party will likely resonate for some time.
For the leader of the Scottish National Party, Alex Salmond, he has both won and lost. In his passionate fight to pursue independence, he led a campaign that energized Scotland and those of Scottish heritage worldwide. The defeat of his campaign has led to his resignation. But did he really lose or change the balance of power.
Whether the long term cost to the British Empire would have been greater with the no vote, or with a yes, no one can say but this exercise in democracy will not go unheeded.
Around the world, separation referendums have occurred in several countries such as Canada with Quebec voting twice, in Anguilla separating from St. Kitts and Nevis in 1980, with Crimea voting to join Russia and leave the Ukraine, and the future Catalonia vote on Nov. 9, the political will to determine a region's future is one constant.
Looking forward to the Catalonia vote on separation, and reflecting on the Scottish experience, Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy said that, “Scotland has avoided the "serious consequences" of separation yet the Catalan people still want to have the opportunity to vote.”
In short, they want to right to decide their own future, a power that everyone in the world wants but not everyone has the opportunity to exercise. In a democracy, we call it voting and we have all seen what happens when voter turnout is low for elections, or petitions fail because citizens do not take the time or energy to get involved.
During Canadian elections, voter turnout hovers around the 40 per cent range meaning that as little as 21 per cent of our country has decided for the 100 per cent. In other countries where voting is seen as a privilege, voter rates can go up to 90 plus per cent.
Viewed from the top, the real winner is not David Cameron, or the Scottish ‘no' camp, but rather that a democratic decision was made with a high voter turnout of engaged voters interested enough to wake from their slumbers to vote.
The real tragedy of the vote could have been that only 50 per cent of eligible voters would have voted and the other 50 per cent would not have cared who won or lost. Thankfully, this was not the situation.
The real winner in the Scottish referendum was democracy, and the Scottish people have spoken.
