Age Demographics of the Scottish Secessionist Referendum - Old Folks and Fear Killed Liberty

An astounding 73% of Scots 65 years of age and older voted NO and 57% of the 55-64 age group voted NO on Scotland's secessionist referendum.

All other age group hit YES at 51% to 59%, with the lions share of YES votes (59%) coming from the 25-34 age group.

What does this tell us?  It tells us that old folks don't give a shit about their children and progeny, and are so tethered to Britain's welfare state, its empire and its tyranny that they gladly would sacrifice anything for the privilege of compliant subservience.

In many ways, the Scottish vote demographics reminds me of America's Republican Party that is dominated by old, white folks who control Republican primaries; they consistently vote for establishment statist candidates.  Like their Scottish counterparts, these folks tend to worship the welfare state, empire, wars, fascism, the military and the wholesale slaughter of civil liberties.  Turns out the Greatest Generation isn't so great after all.

Michael Krieger who blogs at libertyblitzkrieg.com offered some astute observations on the Scottish vote including why the vote can accurately be interpreted as HOPE.

Fear and Loathing in Scotland – Why the NO’s Won and Lessons Learned from the Vote

In the wake of the results, I have witnessed a great deal of bitterness and anger about the vote. While I can relate to such sentiments, I try to take a much more constructive and optimistic approach to the future. First and foremost, we should all be proud that the vote happened at all. So many people within the so-called “liberty movement” are discouragingly extreme pessimists. While proclaiming to fight for liberty, many of them seem to think we are powerless in the face of the powerful. To them, the independence referendum is proof that nothing can ever be changed. I completely disagree with this perspective.

Yes, I believe there are many important takeaways, several of which are instructive going forward.

First, there’s the fact that fear was a driving force behind the NO voters.

Recall that the older lady yesterday (I would guess she was in her 70s) stated that her friends were all voting NO because they were “afraid.”

The NO vote was entirely secured by overwhelming support from those aged above 55. In fact, the “better together” camp failed to win any of the age groups below 55 years of age. For the 65+ crowd it was simply a blowout. 73% of them voted NO. So in a nutshell, old people filled with fear blocked independence. Similarly, fearful old people bailed out the banks in the U.S. several years ago, putting a nail in the coffin of the middle class and the youth generally. See what I am getting at here?

What we now know for certain is that old people in positions of wealth and power, and the ability to frighten others of their generation, is proving to be the most significant obstacle to global change. For those of us who wish to see paradigm shifting changes, this is a very positive realization. For starters, the older generation will gradually fade away, and the promises made to them via pensions will not be on the table for younger generations. Pensions were a huge issue for the 65+ crowd when it came down to their voting decisions....

As a result of the horrific and self-interested choices of older generations, the youth will be left with a much more difficult and uncertain future. This is already happening, but it will worsen considerably following the next severe economic decline, likely to start in late 2015. 

Of course, any rational and informed individual who follows monetary and fiscal issues fully comprehends that western style central banking and its accompanying 'cradle to the grave' entitlement state are on the cusp of imploding and that there is no money to fund these programs (there never was).

In the US, the Social Security Trust Fund is empty and has always been empty simply because Congress immediately stole the money and spent it on wars and other slop while leaving a worthless pile of IOU (US Treasuries) that can never be repaid.  When SS was created, there were 41 workers supporting every beneficiary but that ratio has plunged to 2.9 workers supporting every beneficiary.

Western nations have piled on mountains of debt and taxes in various vote buying schemes over the decades.  The day of reckoning is starting to arrive.  Interest on debt service will continue to rise and eat up larger and larger percentages of government revenues and there will be far less entitlement money to dole out.  Printing 'magical money' out of thin air will only result in massive inflation and currency depredation.

The game is up.  What is left is hope and fear and right now fear is winning.

The young understand that there is nothing for them in a once prosperous western economic system that was totally destroyed by the ravages western elites, statism, corporatism and unfunded entitlement promises, and they seek a glimmer of hope for an otherwise desolate future.  The old cling to fear and a prayer that the bankrupt system will somehow last at least until they exit this earthly paradise.

It's an economic lose-lose for everybody as well as a blueprint for future generational warfare in a statist society where nobody will have much of a future, young or old.