I am grateful to Andy Anderson, Saltcoats for listing the priorities of the AltIndy cult in his letter to The National. It gives me the opportunity to point out that, if one is asking what the best outcome of the 2021 Scottish Parliament would be from the perspective of the Yes movement, only one of those priorities makes any sense – the second one.
Getting an SNP government is a bit of a no-brainer. Without that, Scotland’s cause is screwed. An SNP majority government, which Mr Anderson mentions as if as an afterthought, is also essential. Because only a majority SNP government committed to a Manifesto for Independence can possibly be effective in the inevitable confrontation with the British state. If one is asking what best serves Scotland’s cause rather than what serves the personal and partisan agendas of the AltIndy cult then the strongest possible SNP government is the obvious answer. That means, ideally, a working majority and the biggest possible share of both votes that can possibly be achieved.
If you are not working towards that end or, worse, if you are actively putting that outcome in jeopardy then you are not making the restoration of Scotland’s independence your first priority.
As mentioned, Mr Anderson’s other priorities make no sense in terms of the fight to restore Scotland’s independence. Neither does anything for Scotland’s cause. For certain, neither is worth risking the worst possible outcome – allowing the British parties to seize control of our Parliament – which is precisely the gamble the AltIndy cult is asking us to take. If we lose that gamble, we lose everything. If we ‘win’ we gain nothing.
Given the SNP majority government that we all agree is essential – even if some don’t make it their first priority – more pro-independence MSPs are totally redundant. They contribute nothing to the cause. They cannot act to restore independence. Only the Scottish Government can do that. Which is why we SHOULD be striving to make that Government as strong as possible. There is nothing that can be done with a majority of 20 that cannot be done with a majority of two. The votes which hypothetically got those AltIndy candidates would better serve Scotland’s cause as part of the Scottish Government’s mandate.
It simply is not true to claim that a vote for another pro-independence party or candidate is worth the same as a vote for the SNP. Rather obviously, a vote for the governing party strengthens the Government’s mandate. Other votes don’t. They are genuinely ‘wasted’.
Nether does reducing the representation of the British parties serve Scotland’s cause in any way. So long as they are in the minority they can do nothing whatever to stop or impede a Scottish Government intent on restoring Scotland’s independence. There might be some satisfaction in kicking out some of the British politicians who have been squatting in our Parliament. But that is all. In terms of what SHOULD be our primary objective, removing even the most unpleasant of them does us no service whatever.
In 2014 the British Nationalists succeeded in selling a No vote to the Scottish electorate on the basis of a false prospectus. The prospectus on which the AltIndy parties are selling their magical ‘solution’ is equally false. Don’t get fooled again!
Peter A Bell 
I agree that denying the opportunity for unionists to increase their share of the vote should have a high priority .The preordinate aim must be independence. Voting SNP ,provided it prioritises indy, is but a necessary step towards that aim, not a declaration of allegiance to a party full stop.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Maybe it is only double pleasure of the schadenfreude of removing the salaries from the British at Holyrood and pocketing these for themselves.that motivates the AltIndie, as they are surely not so stupid as to not see the error of their ways it having been articulated to them so frequently.
It doesn’t seem to matter how often and in how many different ways the folly of the AltIndies is pointed out they are wedded, nay welded, to their approach. They are blind to logic, reason and simple common sense.
You are right to keep trying though.
LikeLiked by 2 people
I’m not sure about using the term “Altindies” to describe the criminally dense who spout their anti-SNP conspiracy theories on formerly pro-indy sites. It’s a term that potentially makes them look like cool, rebellious intellectuals, rather than the smug, cult-like brain donors they actually are.
They do not even share a common strategy for achieving independence. They just ignore their vast differences of opinion on this in order to unite behind their only unifying goal …. the destruction of the SNP (whether they acknowledge that aim or not). In their heads, they see this as opening the door to independence …. and not destroying any hope of it as it would be in reality.
Even if we were to allow them the delusion of the electorate viewing an SNP in tatters as no obstacle to Indy, the loss of their only shared focus would see their unified front shatter into a multitude of splinter groups, all scrapping amongst themselves about the route to take and who is the “true” inheritor of the SNP mantle. Even an electorate still willing to support independence in a post SNP Scotland would be turned off by the ugly, internecine squabbling that would constitute the Indy movement in this environment.
Dickheads the lot of them …. and yes, I do have issues with them in case anyone was in any doubt about that.
LikeLike
As long as Nicola Sturgeon and company are in charge of setting and controlling the SNP electoral manifesto under the auspices of the Gold Standard S30, progression to Scottish Independence is well and truly fucked, principally because there does not exist, at this point, any apparent alternative viewpoint being openly expressed from within the current SNP contingent of MSPs as to the folly of this process and presumably they all are satisfied to promote that policy to protect themselves from the candidate deselection committee.
Undoubtedly a continuing SNP majority is required to enable the progress towards Independence.
I hear talk of factionalism from other quarters of the Independence movement being an impediment to progress however, factionalism orchestrated from within the bowels of the SNP HIERARCHY is the greatest impediment to Scotland’s people achieving Independence and is unequivocally the prime mover in all of this.
The British Unionists at Holyrood will continue to rant and rave at an SNP led Government for presumably aspiring to Independence however, the same SNP Government has had an easy ride due to the fact there has not, for sometime now, been an non SNP pro Independence group of MSPs snapping at their heels to get on with the day job. That being the prosecution of Scottish Independence on behalf of the peoples o’ Scotland.
Till that day comes the SNP in its current guise, and Scotland, are going nowhere.
LikeLiked by 2 people