I mean it's a democratic country overall. All parts of (including Catalonia) agreed to join onto the Constitution there or whatever. The concept should be if the people in Catalonia want change they should VOTE for it and get things changed through legislation
if every state in a democratic country just announced they wanted to be independent can you imagine the chaos? there is an overall military system, some form of social help for elderly / poverty, economics highly connected (say from Catalonia to the other port cities in Spain), national security (a state like Catalonia succeding is suddenly a big question mark on one side of Spain in terms of defense), etc.
it's not just black and white. Obviously there are times where breaking away from an abusive national leading party or part of a country is necessary, but I'm just not sure that was the case here, particularly when more than half of the Catalonians of voting age didn't even show up to the polls because they felt it would be illegal to do so (as far as the eyes of Mother Spain is considered).
This was just too much of a disorganized attempt voerall. If they really wanted something that would be respected and considered they should have put more time and effort into the proper channels, maybe Catalonia themselves should have made it 100% clear to their own population that they would not be seriously considering independence unless it was proven that the majority of their own population actually really is willing to fight and back it. When the polls/election for the vote happens and less than half of the voters show up.... that suggests to me that it was far from clear that what was going on was okay or supported by the mass of Catalonia
In the end is independence really necessary in this case anyway? I think the primary topic of conversation is taxation, and, sure, one could argue that's a big factor (the United States used it for their war for independence for example)- but there are so many things into play. People who live in Catalonia have family all over in the rest of Spain and the entirety of the country is not that big. It's not like the United States breaking off from Britain who was an ocean away.
I think this is a scenario where the government in Catalonia should not have been proclaiming independence but more they should have been trying to demand more talks with Madrid regarding adjustments on the taxation. Seems like things jumped the gun a bit.
anyone with common sense knows that a Federation of states, a Republic, whatever, is not going to just allow states to break off whenever they please. It's a big deal and something that needs discussion and time. Just like it was a big deal to sign onto a constitution and agree to be part of united Spain in the first place.
some people act like a country coming together or breaking apart is a simple as signing one piece of paper. There are so many other things that come into play when you have a smaller government so strongly connected with a larger one. And in the end it may or may not even be in the best interest of the average citizen of Catalonia to be seperate from Spain. Sure- the tax thing might be better- but you better be certain that if Catalonia was seperate from Spain they'd end up with far less favorable a situation as far as trading and fees with the rest of Spain. Obviously any country is going to give favorable deals to domestic businesses/trade rather than to those outside of their borders. Just pointing out the obvious.
