Why 2026's landmark anniversaries can help us consider big ideas – like Scottish independence
The 250th anniversary of the American Declaration of Independence may give Scots pause for thought ahead of the Scottish Parliament election in May
New Year is a time to reflect on the past and look forward to the future. Consider what went well and could have gone better. It is a learning experience as are the anniversaries that come and go with each passing year. A reflection of success and the benefits of learning from failure. The US politician Robert Kennedy, who would have celebrated his 100th birthday a few weeks ago, talked of the ability to “dare to fail”.
That is crucial in democratic politics where new ideas are often frowned upon, not least in much of our deeply conservative media establishment, as we cling onto old ideas even when the old way of doing things clearly doesn’t work. As John Maynard Keynes, who died 80 years ago this year, said: “The difficulty lies not so much in developing new ideas as in escaping from old ones.”
Perhaps I am particularly reminded of anniversaries this year when those of us born in 1976 have marked or will mark a significant birthday in 2026.
Mao’s ‘Great Leap Forward’ famine
Reflecting on success and failure openly is the reason why democratic societies are more successful than autocracies. Communist Mao Zedong died 50 years ago this year. His ideas cost the lives of tens of millions of Chinese citizens, unable to challenge or debate whether his policies, including the so-called ‘Great Leap Forward’ which caused perhaps the largest man-made famine in history, were worth the price.
Similarly, Hungarians will commemorate the 70th anniversary of their uprising against the Soviet Union’s occupation and reflect on whether their current Prime Minister’s appeasement of the Kremlin is worth it.
The biggest anniversary bash this year will take place on the other side of the Atlantic. The United States will mark the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence and the ideas of liberty contained therein, whilst hosting the world’s biggest sporting event, the men’s football World Cup.
US citizens will rightly ponder whether their country still lives up to the lofty ideas put forward by its Founding Fathers in that 1776 Declaration, reputedly inspired by the Declaration of Arbroath in 1320.
The US government is of course a matter for its citizens, but given the current administration’s attitudes towards the dictator in the Kremlin and the democrat in Kyiv, that is a concern to all of us who value “life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness” and the idea that governments derive their powers from “the consent of the governed”.
In June, the UK will mark the tenth anniversary of the EU referendum. We can and should debate and discuss whether the cost to us in terms of our rights, opportunities and the estimated £250 million a day lost to the taxpayer was worth it a decade on from that landmark.
However the anniversary will be most revealing in those who mark it, those in favour of leaving the EU doing all they can to ignore the day, whilst those opposed taking the opportunity to flag the devastation that has been caused and the chance that remains to rebuild our relationship with our closest partners in the rest of Europe.
READ MORE: Trump’s wrong, Russia is eminently beatable but UK needs to end its isolationist approach
A pretty straight-forward idea
Much of our democratic debate will take place on the convenience of our phones, 150 years after Edinburgh-born Alexander Graham Bell made the first telephone call. What he would make of what his invention became, which has gone well beyond allowing two people in different places to have a conversation, we’ll never know. What we do know is the profound impact it has had on our lives and wider society.
Politics is about debating ideas and how we can do things better; these anniversaries help us to reflect on that. It can be about setting out your stall and letting people decide.
In Scotland, regardless of what you think of the issue, the SNP, and other pro-independence parties are clear about how to improve the well-being of Scotland’s citizens. Independence in Europe, while working in partnership with other like-minded states in organisations such as the European Union, Council of Europe, Nato, United Nations etc, is a pretty straight-forward idea. In fact, so straight-forward that it isn’t that radical, being practiced by most of our neighbours.
A political dividing line
The alternative is less well defined. What is the big idea around the future of the Union? Reform’s big idea is that the UK should stand alone free of international obligations that impinge on sovereignty. That hasn’t worked particularly well over the past decade but it looks like the future if Scotland remains within the restrictions of the Union.
That remains a dividing line in our politics. Maintaining an 18th-century model of Union that was barely fit for purpose 300 years ago or the 21st-century model contained within the EU treaties remains a key dividing line in our politics.
It isn’t clear what the future of the Union is. That’s a more general problem at Westminster and, speaking to Labour colleagues, one of their many gripes is that they have no idea what Keir Starmer stands for. What is his big idea? If his own party members don’t know, then why would anyone else.
The same goes for the Conservatives whose main idea just now is to be more radical than Reform. For example, they are now seeking to unpick multi-national treaties such as the Treaty of Rome or European Convention on Human Rights.
Readers will have their own views on these two very different ideas and visions and the question of the future of liberal democracy. However, this year will be a big one for voters to set out which of these visions they most closely align with.
Two-hundred-and-fifty years on from the US Declaration of Independence and 150 years on from Alexander Graham Bell’s ground-breaking invention, we will all have the chance to make our views known.
Stephen Gethins is the MP for Arbroath and Broughty Ferry
Comments
Want to join the conversation? Please or to comment on this article.