I honestly, hand on heart, cannot see what difference Scotland being independent will make to most of the people who live here. For many years now, Scotland could have been encouraging businesses/entrepreneurs to set up here, could have been supporting development etc. There was nothing stopping this from happening. Why, in the case of a Yes vote in September, would all this change suddenly be possible. It's not impossible now. It just feels as if the Scottish govt would rather blame their lack of progress on Westminster than on their own lack of initiative.
It would be different precisely because, being independent, we could take complete responsibility for shaping the kind of country we want. There has been something stopping this from happening up to now - the fact that tax-raising powers and overall spending decisions are made outwith Scotland, and that only some powers are currently devolved.
An independent Scotland would not be subject to policies and spending shaped outwith Scotland, and we could choose ourselves how to allocate our resources. I personally hope, for example, that this would mean we would choose to invest more in stopping elderly folk from dying of cold because they can't afford to put their heating on in an oil-producing country, and reverse the current situation where 30,000 more Scottish children are now living below the poverty line. We could also identify and prioritise effective business support, education, training and welfare strategies which are not totally within our power at the moment.
I'm not going to apologise for wanting to see a fairer society or for believing that we will not achieve this for as long as we are ruled from Westminster. And I don't think I'm living in cloud-cuckoo land, because I believe not only that the figures stack up now but also because I think that independence could create the conditions we need for people and businesses here to flourish. Of course, it depend on how Scots choose to vote after independence but I think the impetus is there for positive change. The alternative of the same old inequalities, lack of vision and skewed priorities that Westminster offers does not say "Better Together" to me.
And, ref implications further above that I must be uneducated, non-working, ideology driven and socialist, I actually have post-graduate qualifications, have worked at senior level in the public sector before leaving to set up in my own successful consultancy business specialising in economic and rural/community development which I still work in (and employ staff), have never voted socialist in my life, and am not married to the SNP agenda either. I'm saying this not because I think any of it makes me better than people from other backgrounds but because I want to debunk some of the assertions made above. The Yes campaign is very broadly based, and it does No voters no credit to dismiss other people's views because these people do not match certain narrow parameters of educational or social acceptability. You don't need a degree or a full-time job to be able to think things out and hold a valid opinion. Some people may not be as articulate and might even use sweary words to express themselves, but that doesn't make their views less valid.
I respect the decision to vote No even if some No voters do not seem to respect the decision to vote Yes. If there is a Yes vote in September, No voters will be as able as Yes voters to help shape the future. In the event of a No vote, I think we will see far more active engagement in the democratic process by the many Yes voters who now have the confidence and desire to be involved in making things change in Scotland even within the confines of Westminster rule.