Scotland rejects independence from Britain in a close vote

[StrawberryBlond 15,564]

​Sorry I was having a bad day yesterday so excuse the "sure jan". 

Yes 55% of Scotland voted against leaving the union. What about us 45% who voted for independence. Are we to just shut up and sit in the corner and take whatever is thrown at us by the current tory government? No I don't believe so. They are a movement for independence now. Yes if they are another no vote if they were ever another referendum and the gap is smaller it would mean the independence movement is growing. I am personally not a fan of Alex Salmond, he's smarmy in my opinion so I disregard his comments. I believe we will get independence because of the state Britain is in today. (However that is another debate). 

I respect your stance on independence however, I still hold the view that Scotland would be a fair and more equal country if we gained independence. I never expected Scotland to be a perfect country if we gained independence, I was actually sh*tting myself about a yes vote the week before the referendum. I just wanted a egalitarian nation that provided for the 100% rather than the 1% which happens most of the time in the UK .

How do you know I am obsessed with independence? You do realise I am putting on a character here on Gagadaily. I let people know my political views here on Gagadaily. I am different mainly in real life. This website is a specter of my life.

​Ok, we all have bad days.

No, I'm not saying you should shut up but I am saying that you need to quietly ease off the constant referring to the whole thing. It's driving us No supporters up the wall and only pushing us further towards the No camp. Contrary to what the Yes voters seem to think, constant persistence will not make us change our minds, it's only p*****g us off, like a kid constantly whining about when are we going to buy them a new toy that we've repeatedly told them we can't afford and don't approve of. The papers are always blaring phrases like "The voice of the Scottish people will be heard," and it's driving me mad because it's a voice of some of the Scottish, not all, and this entire referendum has painted an extremely poor image of Scotland and tarred us all with the same brush. These referendums cost too much money and you can't host them all the time, it's not fair on the people and it's pointless unless it's taken every couple of generations as opposed to every 2 years.

And I would take Salmond's views into account - he said this when he was leader of the party and he still is a part of it to an extent. You can't just ignore his views just because you don't like them. There's been a lot of nasty stories about SNP MP's and their bullying tactics and it shouldn't be ignored. You say it was only a 10% difference in the referendum, but the No side would have had an even bigger victory if Salmond had allowed people in the army to vote and Scottish people temporarily living in England to vote and not given the vote to 16 and 17 year olds and immigrants who had just arrived here. He did everything in his power to ensure a Yes victory and took away the right to vote from any group who could have voted no. And it still wasn't enough. I think that tells you a lot.

Thing is, we already are a fair and equal nation. I don't know where this skewed idea comes from that we aren't. We get money from England and we won't have that if we're independent. Surely that means we're worse of? Under the union, we get so many benefits and funding. It was ironic that Nicola and the SNP recently made a speech about how Scotland can stand on its own in front of the Forth Bridge. That bridge was designed by English architects and paid with English taxpayer's money. It's not the nicest thing to say but it's true - "England creates, Scotland takes." England have helped us out of every problem since 1707. 1 in 5 Scots work in English, Welsh and NI companies and we don't need passports to travel in the rest of the UK for work or other reasons. People would lose their jobs if we separated, that is a fact. Certain people were told by their employers that it would happen. That in addition to the higher mortgages, credit card bills, household bills, food bills, etc. would be a disaster. We have bonds that stretch back centuries with the rest of Britain. To just sever all that is unthinkable. We'd never be the same again and not in a good way.

I'm saying I'm worried about you because this issue is still affecting you greatly and you bumped this thread months later, asking for when change is coming. It's suggesting that you have pinned too much hope on independence. I've seen how this referendum has turned into an unhealthy obsession for many Yes supporters. I looked up an old classmate on Twitter and looking through her tweets, she talked about a whole host of things...but months before the referendum, she made it clear she was an SNP supporter and that's basically all she's tweeted about ever since. There have been friendships and family ties broken due to differing opinons about independence and its saddened me greatly. It seems that pre-referendum, we were all getting along fine, but then it became a case of "choose a side" and there's been nothing but bitterness and hatred everywhere. It's horrible. If an independent Scotland is going to be full of this, count me out.