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I think you've completely misunderstood why the SNP has been successful in Scotland.
They are not a small minded nationalist party.
andyp-
I don't think I have.
They're not a small-minded nationalist party? How on earth can you say that!?!
Farage wants to split the UK off from Europe, the SNP want to go one step further and take Scotland out of the union. Their policies are left of centre yes - anything else in Scotland would fail - but that's not the point.
They want what is the best for Scotland at the expense of everyone else. In a way, who can blame them, but here's what Orwell said about nationalism:
A nationalist is one who thinks solely, or mainly, in terms of competitive prestige. He may be a positive or a negative nationalist—that is, he may use his mental energy either in boosting or in denigrating—but at any rate his thoughts always turn on victories, defeats, triumphs and humiliations. He sees history, especially contemporary history, as the endless rise and decline of great power units and every event that happens seems to him a demonstration that his own side is on the upgrade and some hated rival is on the downgrade.
Nationalism ultimately begets conflict and jingoism: Hitler, Stalin, Karadžić, the list is endless. Albert Einstein said that "Nationalism is an infantile disease. ... It is the measles of mankind."
If there was an 'English National Party' which wanted to split England off from the union they'd be widely decried as racist, bigoted and so on, including by you. Why is it any different if they're Scottish?
Add to this that SNP supporters refuse to have a proper debate about anything, and somehow feel they were robbed in the referendum (even though the majority of their country voted in favour of the union). I found this out on here in the referendum thread where SNP supporters just got shouty and failed to address my points or engage, and I've found the same in real life with my boyfriend's family who are exactly the same.
They've even started talking to each other via facebook in gaelic, having never shown any interest in the language previously. How does that make any sense? Why are they doing it?
The SNP, like many nationalist movements, is cult-like. This result supports that.
Fox
I'd struggle to define the Lib Dems as left of centre when they've just spent five years facilitating a Tory government and passing nasty right of centre laws, but they're a politically spent force now anyway. Votes for the SNP are more about small-minded nationalism than the values of the progressive left.
I'm all for electoral reform, and voted for it myself, but that ship has sailed.
Also 9 million Tories plus 3 million UKIP = 12 million...