The Scottish Independence thread - Yay or Nay?

[Penguin]

Yay from me (sorry British mates!), because I'm a shallow person and I find Cat Boyd extremely hot!
On a serious note: I can pretty much sympathize with the positions of the RIC. I would love to see trying out an alternative to the current economic system, which is is prevailant in anglo-saxon countries, especially with its strong emphasis on the financial sector and its tendency to sacrifice all social achievements to some shareholder value.

I also believe that a working democratic system has to be down-to-top, so I am a big fan of smaller entities deciding their fate on their own, rather than having a centralistic system.

As a leftie, the first article from The Scotsman curbed my hopes a little.

In the German media, the positions of the RIC or the SSP are seldom mentioned, it's painted as if it's only the SNP which roots for independence. However from my understanding, Scotish nationalism differs greatly from other nation's nationalism, it looks like it includes less xenophobic components.

Since we're on a military-dominated website, another question comes to my mind. I haven't read too much about how the military should be organized, as many British units are tradionally Scottish dominated (don't know if there are still regiments which are solely made up of Scots). A joint-venture in this sector would certainly make sense - of course with veto powers when London decides to take part in another senseless oversea adventure.

Originally Posted by August

My opinion on Scottish independence is that as an American it's none of my business.

Well, coming from a nation which has some experience about the necessity to dissolve political bands, you certainly can voice an opinion.

Especially as MGM did a very good job by posting some reading material to get a grasp of the issue and thus trying to enable an informed discussion.
I think this is an issue which has been discussed in America since even before the foundation of US, and still is a relevant topic today: the question of the rights and powers of smaller entities versus central power, aka state rights vs federal rights.