Owlbread, why do you have any faith in the SNP?
The SNP, in my opinion, are the most competent political party in the UK right now. I could be proved wrong and in that case I know where my allegiances will shift, but I support the SNP because I believe they know what they are doing.
I dislike independence movements. My opinion comes from my country's own independence which didn't go... exactly as planned (dissolution of Czechoslovakia). Also there was all the crap with disintegration of Yugoslavia. AFAIK that were the last independence flashpoints in Europe (you can also count USSR here - which was also a failure). All of them were pretty unsuccessful, not so in achieving independence, but in "we have a new country what now" department, so I strongly believe that these nations would be better off standing together not alone.
For me personally is the concept of nation-state too much from 19th century. The us-vs-them mentality breeds too much conflict and strife inside of country.
Nevertheless I wish you more luck in achieving Scottish independence than we had with ours.
It's all fine and well to talk of nations "standing together not alone" but in that case why don't we pursue a united European state? If we vote No it won't exactly be a brave step in the name of breaking down national borders, no no. If we went along with what you are suggesting, we would only be trading a more inclusive Scottish nationalism for a rising, increasingly isolationist British nationalism that thinks the greatest issues facing Britain right now are "too many immigrants" and "leaving the EU".
Neither of those things resonate with Scots - we're generally the most pro European part of the UK (more like the most neutral-minded) and we actually need lots of immigrants if we're going to achieve the things we want to. This is where the argument really kicks in - we actually know what we want. Forgive me if I'm wrong but the dissolution of Czechoslovakia seems to have come about through issues of a much more nationalist kind. Scottish nationalism/Scottish independence in contrast is built upon the desire to, specifically, rid Scotland of nuclear weapons, gain control over our resources (like our oil) and pursue more left-wing policies; specifically those that would be impractical or impossible to pursue as a province of the UK. We also want to elect our own national governments, rather than having the South East of England elect Conservatives for us. Many of us also want to leave NATO and become a Republic (two things that will never happen in the UK under any circumstances besides Prince Charles being the last royal and being unmasked as a pedophile), perhaps leave the EU (some advocate that) and perhaps adopt our own currency. All of those things will become the main political issues of a future independent Scotland. We can see where our future lies, could Slovakia or the Czech Republic at the time of their national awakenings 20 years or so ago?
But yes, I am often bombarded with arguments like "there is no difference between a working class man in Birmingham and a working class man in Glasgow" but frankly, what's the difference between any person? We're all human beings. What, are we going to unite with France now? Ireland? They'd laugh at it, even though it has been proposed in the past it would never (ever, ever,
ever) have become a reality. I believe in the brotherhood of man and all that stuff, the power of a stronger United Nations, but we're never going to integrate properly if we keep big, archaic power blocs like the UK around.
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