By Steven J. Grisafi, PhD.
I have been following the news of the 2014 Scottish devolution referendum and the 2015 United Kingdom”s parliamentary election with some interest. While I wish to avoid all appearance of meddling within British internal affairs, I see some parallels within their affairs to some of ours here in the United States of America. My interest was particularly piqued when I read of the comment made by a member of the British government. The woman suggested that the issue of Scottish devolution could be addressed in the way some Americans cling to the heritage of their ancestors by referring to themselves as hyphenated Americans. Commentaries published in British newspapers, such as the Guardian, thoroughly trashed this idea so I see no reason to pursue it further. Yet, I believe there is more to this issue than what the newspaper articles addressed.
Let the people of Scotland know this: Here in America, once a state has been admitted to the Union it can NEVER leave. The sixteenth president affirmed this. Should the people of any state choose to secede, Federal troops will move upon the state capitol to arrest all of the state”s leaders. Consider yourselves lucky, people of Scotland, that you actually have a choice. Judging from the newspaper articles condemning the idea of asserting the use of hyphenated identities, I presume that the people of Scotland find such a proposal unacceptable. Yet, the possibility of a dissolution of the Union remains. Here is where I assert that any multiculturalism within a nation is counterproductive and ought to be avoided at all costs. A nation of one people can have but one culture. With all due respect to Canada, and its French speaking people, Canada has but one identity, that of a member of the British Commonwealth. This leads me to suggest: Dissolve the Union and strengthen the Commonwealth.
Consider a Great Britain with England as the hub of a wheel with Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland, and all of the member nations of the current British Commonwealth as spokes along the rim of the wheel. The new Commonwealth of Greater Britain would be an enhanced military and economic alliance. Within the Commonwealth each member nation would retain its independent governance. England, as the hub of the wheel, would be the source of all things British and sovereign, of which all other member nations could draw upon freely. To dwell upon this further would be too presumptuous of me. So I go no further than to suggest the possibility and advise against any notion of embracing multiculturalism within Britain. Europeans wonder at the reluctance of Americans to provide sufficient societal safeguards to insure the people against the vicissitudes of life. As many a commentary has noted, much of this reluctance is due to feelings of detachment of the American people from other Americans deemed as different. Such is the failure of multiculturalism that only weakens a nation and hinders its unity.