To be a Unionist in Scotland, one must be prepared to accept humiliation, not as an insult to be stoically borne or desperately rationalised, but as a natural part of one’s condition as a subject of the British state.
To be a Unionist in Scotland, one must be so persuaded of the superiority of the British ruling elite that one’s own inferiority is worn with the same ease as one’s own skin.
To be a Unionist in Scotland, one must consent to the denial by the British state of democratic rights which in all other circumstances would be considered inalienable.
To be a Unionist in Scotland, one must stand ready to sacrifice the needs, priorities and aspirations of one’s country to the imperative of preserving the structures of power, privilege and patronage which define the British state.
To be a Nationalist in Scotland, you need only maintain that Scotland, its people, its land, its culture and its democratic institutions are worthy of being treated with the respect generally regarded as the due of any nation.
To be a Nationalist in Scotland, you need only believe that good government is never further removed from the governed than is consistent with its function. And that decisions about Scotland’s future must be made by the people of Scotland.
To be a Nationalist in Scotland, you need only insist that the people of Scotland are sovereign. And that they must never be denied the full and effective exercise of their sovereignty.
Originally posted on Fecaboko 15 November 2018
Peter A Bell 
I’ve got to say I know a lot of people who voted NO in 2014, including some family, and they may still vote NO in Indy Ref 2 though perhaps more open to a YES vote, but not one single one of them meets one single one of the definitions of a Unionist above.
LikeLike
Scotts that are not Unionist have nothing to show for.
LikeLike
The No vote can probably be split into at least three camps: Unionists who are pro-British along with everything that stands for and the subject of this post, Opportunists, not in the normal sense, but those people who see the UK as a single market with greater opportunities than would be afforded in an independent Scotland (even if we joined the EU language is still going to be a barrier) and Status Quo-ists who are wary of independence because it represents a dramatic change and they don’t necessarily have any faith in the calibre of people who be in positions of real power instead of wee, pretendy positions of power.
It’s the latter two groups that, in theory, the SNP are targetting in their drive to get past 60% but if these categories are real then I don’t honestly see them making any impact. Where’s the drive to prepare schoolkids to live and work in Europe, where’s the planning for businesses to be successful in one of the world’s largest markets? Instead we have a pursuit of progressive policies designed to make the protagonists look good with other progressives with precious little in actually making the country successful.
Perhaps it’s time to do a little divide and conquering of our own.
LikeLike