I'm sure you've seen or heard the news at some point recently. I'm one hundred percent sure that this has happened. You would have to be both deaf and blind or live in a cave to have not been exposed to news. So, seeing as this is the case, you don't need me to tell you that Scotland will be making a pretty big decision at the end of September with regard to its connection to the United Kingdom. In fact, 'a pretty big decision' is an extreme understatement, because the outcome of this referendum will unquestionably change many important aspects of how Scotland as a country operates. Either it remains a part of the UK or it becomes independent. It's a big deal.As a Scottish citizen, I have the right to vote in this referendum, and I will be voting an emphatic 'no'. Independence would be an unequivocally bad move on all the levels. The Scottish have always been a fiery people, and some have long wished to separate their country from Britain, which it sees as an over-protective mother, not letting them spread their wings and take flight on their own. What they fail to see is that their wings wouldn't provide nearly enough lift to get them off the ground in the first place.
I'm sure you've heard the expression 'trying to run before you can walk'. Scotland trying to survive and thrive as an independent country would be equivalent to trying to run before you've been born. The requirement of all matters to pass through Westminster, as emasculating as it may be to the nationalists, provides the sole link- the umbilical cord, if you will- through which Scotland receives all the nutrients it needs. Among them: free healthcare; a stable, established currency; a presence in the EU, with all the trade benefits implied therein; and- perhaps most importantly to me, given my age and stage in life- free university tuition for its native population. Sever the connection with London and you sever the supply of many things that make the average Scottish citizen's life markedly easier and more comfortable. NHS? Forget it. An army? Only the regiments that belong to you. Scotland wouldn't even be a member of the EU anymore, which would mean immigration control on all traffic in and out of the country, including the other countries of the British Isles- a huge administrative and financial strain in and of itself.
And yet, Mr Salmond claims that these losses and repercussions will not be an issue. Somewhere in his half-baked and half-cocked plan, he says, are answers to all these problems and more. And yet the only solution that he has thus far revealed is to presume that the rest of the world is going to let him keep everything. On EU membership he proclaimed, "Well, of course they'll let us join!", to which the EU said, "LOL no". On national currency, he brazenly stated that "We'll be allowed to keep the pound!" The Treasury replied with "Not on your nelly". We can only assume that the rest of his 'plan' rest on similarly shaky grounds.
And yet his movement has gained significant momentum- enough, indeed, to make this daft referendum a thing. Several of my own Scottish friends and family, all of whom I consider to be logical and sensible people, are inexplicably- to my eyes, at least- behind the cause. This is highly worrying. If it were to come out at the end of September that more people were for independence than against, it would set into motion a series of events and plans that would, by 2016 (when independence would officially begin), have formed a noose for Scotland to compliantly fill with its neck. And then, when the chair is kicked out from underneath us, we'd realise our mistake and reach out desperately towards England, gasping and gurgling, imploring them to take our weight. And would they? Would they hell.
It's a heavy-handed image, but it does get my point across rather nicely- that an independent Scotland is incapable Scotland. So I'll be voting 'no', and if you are able to, I advise you to do the same. It's our homeland, and it'd be a real shame to watch it kill itself.