Murdo Fraser, the ever-controversial Tory MSP, has said that this is going to be the most boring election in Scottish history. I think he's wrong.

I suspect that this is going to be another transformational moment in our history, another significant leap forward. Let me explain.

The SNP has long been a moderate, centre-left party with one radical policy. And in a world where every other party ran off quickly to the right, that often made them seem bold by comparison. But that didn't change the nature of the organisation: while it is willing to do what it can within the economic system as it is, it's notably reticent to do much to change that system.

A moderate, centre left party is a perfectly respectable thing to be. And you only need to look at a political map of Scotland to see that it's probably what most of the Scottish population are after. But it seems to me that lots of people in the country want more than that.

Some of this yearning is historic. Like most countries, Scotland has a long thread down the generations of people organising together to demand changes which seemed radical at the time but are now treated as common sense. That's how democracy was won, and council housing, and the weekend. There are plenty of folk in modern Scotland who remember that, from Thomas Muir to Mary Barbour, it's the radicals who have always moved our history forward, and these people have defined Holyrood elections in the past: mostly voting Labour in 1999, Green or SSP in 2003, and SNP in 2007 and 2011.

Some of this desire for significant change is about our more recent experience. The referendum inspired thousands to believe that another Scotland is possible. The country was abuzz with conversations about universal basic income, participatory budgeting, new banking models and... well, you don't need me to tell you, you were there.

And some of it is global. As someone else once said, there's a rough wind blowing through the great glen of the world today. It's what swept Bernie Sanders to the brink of the Democratic nomination, Syriza into power in Greece, and Podemos from nowhere to a close third in Spain.

The most educated and connected generation in history is facing the reality of a long economic slump, brutal austerity, soaring inequality, a housing crisis and looming climate disaster and it's no surprise that they think that 'steady as she goes' isn't good enough. It's no surprise that, all over the Western world, significant numbers of people have come to the perfectly sensible conclusion that the system built by Thatcher and Reagan in the 1980s doesn't need a bit of a paint-job, but a comprehensive upgrade.

And it seems to me that this group of people could be decisive in May: not in who the First Minister will be. We all know the answer to that. But decisive in shaping the kind of parliament we have, and decisive in moving our politics forward, pushing the demands of social movements into Holyrood, ensuring there's progressive pressure on the SNP, taking ideas from the fertile fringes into the sterile centre.

In this context, it's worth looking at a notable feature of the Holyrood opinion polls: every recent survey has shown the Scottish Green Party making significant gains - from two seats in 2011 to eight or more in May. Which is perhaps not surprising. After all, both Labour and the Lib Dems (remember them?) have lost the trust of much of the electorate, and, as minds move from the referendum and the SNP's one radical policy, to the election and all of their blander proposals, it's no shock that this newly enthused part of the electorate begins to look elsewhere for someone to represent them.

This process has only accelerated in recent weeks. After years of complaining about the 'hated council tax', the SNP has proposed to tweak rather than replace the system introduced by John Major in 1993: a step in the right direction, but a very small one. Nicola Sturgeon has promised to keep the top rate of income tax lower than the level Mrs Thatcher charged for most of her time in office, but has refused to implement Osborne's re-banding give-away to those on above-average incomes: 'neither backwards, nor forwards'. SNP legislation on land reform did some nice things, but failed to take more radical steps like banning Scottish land from being registered in tax havens.

Add to that the party's habit of running away at the sniff of a lawyer: from CalMac and Scotrail privatisation to living wage requirements for government contractors, and the picture many are painting is an accurate one: a moderate party which is on the whole on the side of progressives, but unlikely to lead the charge, disinclined to upset the establishment.

At the same time, the Scottish Greens have grown from around 1,000 members in 2011 to more than 9,000 now, energised by the young, exciting social movements which characterise both the referendum campaign here, and much of the emerging new left across the world. If the party manages to unleash that energy, it could have a very good election indeed. And if it does, unlike in 2003, its MSP group will be built on the firm base of a large and active membership.

Scottish politics is on a journey. Nine years ago, the natural party of government shifted. In May, the make-up of our parliament could change radically, with profound implications for our direction of travel. Murdo Fraser may think this election is going to be boring, but that's because he's sitting on the wrong side of the train, gazing out of the wrong window, and missing the wave sweeping up the Forth.

Commentary by Adam Ramsay, a writer and thinker based in Edinburgh. He is co-editor of openDemocracyUK.