Either way it goes, today will be an historic day for Scotland.  With 97 percent of eligible voters registered, turn out is expected to be high as voters answer the question, “Should Scotland be an independent country?”  The answer will either set Scotland on the road to breaking away from the United Kingdom, or gaining new powers and authority devolved from Westminster.

“(Thursday) for a few precious hours during polling day, the people of Scotland will hold in our hands the exclusive solemn power to define our nation for the future,” said Scottish First Minister and Independence Leader Alex Salmond.  “It’s the greatest, most empowering moment that any of us will ever have.”

The polls show a very slight lead for those who want to keep Scotland part of the UK.  And if that happens, the leaders of the three main political parties have promised devolved powers to Holyrood.  But eight to 14 percent of voters were still undecided as of the last polls before the vote.  The “Better Together” effort sent out former Prime Minister Gordon Brown to appeal to their patriotism.

“We fought two world wars together,” Brown told hundreds of supporters.  “There’s not a cemetery in Europe that doesn’t have a Scot, a Welshman, an Irish and an Englishman side by side.”

While there’s always been a certain romantic notion of an independent Scotland, the first brick in the road to this referendum was laid during the years when Margaret Thatcher was Prime Minister.  There’s a reason why Scotland’s delegation to the UK parliament has only one Tory – the Conservatives are despised in Scotland. 

Thatcherism caused economic and social havoc in anyplace that wasn’t wealthy during the 1980s.  Privatization of industries and nasty wars with labor unions gutted the industrial base and deepened inequities.  Industrial, steel, and coal mining jobs disappeared.  Scotland felt it the worst.  There were increases in drug abuse, alcohol abuse, violence, and suicide in communities where a spoilt economy stripped hope from people.  And then there’s the oil; Scots have long complained that London disproportionately benefits from the North Sea reserves.

Having lived through hell and back, many Scots would like to scrape off the influence of Westminster’s Tories and transform the society into Scandinavian-type Social Democracy, with strong public services and free university tuition.

Either way it goes, I’ll be having a Belhaven with dinner tonight.