I’ve joined the Scottish National Party

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Originally uploaded by xahldera

I recently joined the Scottish National Party, and last night I took part in my first branch meeting, which was really interesting, what with Stewart Maxwell bringing the latest news from the Scottish Parliament and other interesting topics.

Although I consider myself to be a social liberal, I must admit that the Vote Match was right, and my opinions are much better represented by the SNP than by the LibDems.

I was actually a member of the SNP for a short while just after moving to Scotland, but I was still mainly tuned in to Danish politics and was a bit uncomfortable with being a member of a broad-church party. I then joined the LibDems for a while because of a mistaken idea that they would work constructively with the SNP, pulling them in a slightly more liberal direction, but I was wrong. The LibDems are committed unionists, and working with the SNP seems to be their worst nightmare. They also cover an even wider range of ideas than the SNP. It became more and more obvious that I had made a huge mistake.

Also, I am not a member of any Danish political party any more, and my main political focus is now Scotland. After almost ten years in Scotland, I feel more Scottish than Danish in many regards.

Of course the SNP is a broad church, and of course I don’t agree 100% with every single member of the party, but that’s how it has to be when one idea – independence – is the most important political question. (I’m sure the Scottish political landscape will be thoroughly reorganised post-independence, but that’s a different story.)

However, on the whole I do agree with most SNP policies, and I definitely felt politically at home at the branch meeting last night.

Also, the most important question facing Scotland over the next five years is independence, and I strongly believe Scotland would do better as an independent country.

The Scottish National Party is therefore my party.