HAD THEIR TURN AND FAILED

We recently wrote about California's Mendocino County voters who passed a referendum this month declaring self-determination.

In that post we mentioned Catalonia, a small section in northern Spain that wants its freedom from Madrid or the central government.

The Economist in its recent issue wrote:

SECESSION is a nasty business. A century and a half ago, America fought a civil war to prevent it. So it is not surprising that Spain, which has bad memories of its own civil war, should oppose independence for Catalonia. Spain’s refusal to allow a referendum on the issue is, however, matched by Catalonia’s determination to hold one—hence the vote the regional government held on November 9th, in which 80% of those who participated voted for independence (see article). The government in Madrid called the vote illegal, and a failure because turnout was only 37%; the Catalan one said that it demonstrated the case for Catalonia’s independence.

Neither is right. The case for holding a referendum is strong, but if there is one, Catalonia should vote to stay part of Spain.

Like another MSM news organization, Bloomberg which opposes the move in Mendocino County, these shills for the status quo never saw a secession they agreed with or liked,

Under a banner of Better Together, the Economist continues:

Catalan nationalists have drawn strength from the Scottish referendum earlier this year, but Catalonia is not Scotland. In relation to the rest of Spain, it is twice as big, with around 16% of the country’s population. It is also much richer, contributing almost a fifth of GDP and, unlike Scotland, transferring substantial sums to the rest of the country. Moreover, Spain has other restless regions: were Catalonia to go, so might the Basque Country and Galicia. Catalan independence would thus pose a serious risk to Spain’s very existence.

What the author or his editors or both don't seem to understand, or more likely don't want to understand, for Catalonians who are apparently fed up with their bigger Spanish centralized brothers, it's not their concern whether Spain's very existence is at risk.

In fact, at a much deeper level for those who are willing to take off their blinders, that's what Catalonians are rebelling for--their very existence and the right to preserve it.

Centralized governments when they get too big and too centralized threaten peoples' lives, their very ways and cultures of existence. It's a universal fact.

Contributing nearly 20% to GDP of a distant, feckless centralized government is reason enough for secession, but surely there are many others. The only constant in life is change. And if that applies to peoples' lives it certainly ought to apply to incompetent governments and countries.

The big concern here is once again money. Those who oppose Catalan independence are most concerned about an independent Catalan stiffing EU creditors in Brussels.

The people of Catalonia should decide their fate, not Madrid bureaucrats and politicians who like in many other regions on this planet have had their turn and failed

http://www.economist.com/news/leaders/21632478-madrid-government-should-let-catalans-have-voteand-then-defeat-separatists?