The "No" vote ended up winning by a landslide, 55 percent to 45 percent. It was too grand a thought to think the Scots would stand in a majority to deal a blow to Empire. Despite some favorable polls recently and a sense of momentum, the "Yes" campaign for Scottish independence was always operating under an enormous burden, and that burden was that voters had to display some personal courage. There was a tremendous amount of fear-mongering in the mainstream media. Scottish independence would result in economic collapse, or so we were told by the experts.
The overwhelming majority of people are ruled by fear. In light of this, 45 percent for independence is very encouraging.
Fear will always triumph in the voting booth. We saw this in Pakistan's spring 2013 elections. Despite a lot of excitement, activism and momentum, support for Imran Khan's Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf collapsed at the polls. Nawaz Sharif's Pakistan Muslim League-N walked away with the victory.
I participated in a similar monumental battle of hope versus fear in the Nader 2000 campaign. In spite of huge Super-Rallies and a legitimate grassroots Green Party volunteer movement, Democrat's fear-mongering carried the day (but not for the Democrats themselves, who continued to blame Nader supporters for costing the listless Al Gore the presidency). Nader couldn't even tally 3 percent of the vote nationally. The goal was to reach 5 percent in order that the Green Party could qualify for public funding the next election.
Fear apparently is much stronger than hope when it comes to a public vote. It is a Hobbesian world.
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