Very true. As to the earlier post, could you state some of the pros? As I said, I'm struggling to think of any.
Rather than simplify a complex issue into useless soundbites (as both sides have been gulity of in the past), the best way to explain the case for independence is as something as follows. Firstly, and most obviously, the perception that the UK subsidises Scotland is a myth. More money is spent per head in London than anywhere else in the UK. Meanwhile, there is a consistent disparity between Scotland's spending and revenue. Not that this matters hugely, but the misconception needs to be addressed every time this debate arises.
Now whilst it's too late to become the next Norway, we still have enough oil to comfortably pay the bills for a few decades. When that runs out the plan is to be sufficiently re-industrialised to generate wealth beyond oil. Additionally, tying in with our political landscape, we'd profit from the resultant vacuum of nukes, oil wars and similar wasteful expenditures (ridding ourselves of the Trident abomination is a case in itself for independence). We'd gain our own voice in the EU as opposed to having London speak for us (which would arguably work to our mutual advantage).
Ultimately the driving reason for independence is the virtue of the fact itself: that self-determination would be intrinsically good for us. From birth to death Scots are told we need the UK, without which we'd be lost. Which suggests we're too lazy and/or stupid to manage our own affairs. Nurturing such a repellant attitude risks turning it into a self-fulfilling prophecy, and the current situation clearly stirs resentment on both sides of the border. There is justified frustration in England that Scottish/Irish/Welsh voters have a voice in English affairs. Likewise it is infuriating for a developed nation to be ruled by another.
Scotland and England are very distinct entities and are becoming increasingly polarised politically. Westminster is descending further into a playground for the rich and spoilt; Clegg is a political refugee and Milliband has less political weight than a fart in the wind. By merciful contrast, in Scotland we have found ourselves one of the most accomplished politicians in recent British history. That he managed to override a voting system which was designed to
keep his party out demonstrates that Thursday's landslide was not simply a protest vote or a personality poll. It signals that we've grown tired of the counter-productive fear-mongering bitch contests so characteristic of the unionist parties; I hope we're beginning to embrace a more positive political vision instead. In which case a vote for independence marks a refreshing positivism: the not-so-unlikely belief that we can do a better job of governing ourselves than London has done.