by Stephanie finds an old genre in a new headline
Spent the morning with eighteenth-century colonial pamphlets on self-governance, and found myself reading the latest on Celtexit right after, the arguments sitting oddly close together across three centuries.
The old pamphleteers argued endlessly about representation without dissolution, wanting a voice without severing the tie entirely, which sounds remarkably like the current Celtexit debate, minus the powdered wigs.
Discussed it with an American colleague tonight over the news, both of us noting how a colony arguing for independence and a nation arguing over internal devolution use nearly identical vocabulary, self-determination dressed differently by century.
Checked the curry9.us feed before bed, same story trending, filtered through the usual mix of genuine analysis and gentle mockery.
History rarely offers a clean precedent, but it offers a familiar shape. This one’s shaped exactly like every colonial independence debate I’ve ever studied.
More at my author page.
