Democracy doesn’t run itself. There’s a reason why political donations, like charitable giving, are tax deductible. The public has a vested interest in political parties being well populated and well funded. The more average Joe’s that sign up with direct debits, the less the Souters’ will be required to play a part.

So I’ve never understood how so many people can be fleetingly interested in politics once every four years while still resentful that those very few that are constantly, consistently involved don’t just fix everything for them, the way they want. My preferred vision of an ideal country is for political parties to be chock full of engaged individuals, branch meetings to be lively affairs and candidate selections to be thorough and exciting. We are, sadly, a long way off and we shouldn’t need George Galloway to remind us of this.

I took the principle down to London of choosing a party from the local options and joining it although, in the same way that I don’t really believe I’m a Londoner, I never really felt a proper member of GPEW, even one at the outer fringes (which is all I ever was, and all I ever intend to be, irrespective of the party I’m a member of). So, now that a return to Scotland is looming, if not quite imminent, sticking to that principle but jumping ship seemed like a good idea, and there was really only one option.

The SNP is taking the debate, constitutional and otherwise, wider and deeper than any other party. While I rail against the idea that a Scot can’t be ambivalent about independence, so regularly touted by the more fundamentalist Nationalists out there, there is no avoiding the intertwining of the SNP and independence, irrespective of the fact that independence alone will neither improve nor worsen the lives of any Scot. Politically I may be pale green but the Scottish Green Party is only advancing the independence debate on its backfoot, and that lacks a certain appeal, despite being justifiable, as we enter an historic period that needs to be grasped with all fingers and all toes, whichever side of the argument one is on.

In terms of political debate, independence is the only show in town, and Scotland shouldn’t be ashamed of that.

And, well, it might be the paltry departures boards at Scottish airports, it might be voting for 1 Tory MP but still being stuck with a Tory Chancellor, it might be the growing desire to hear a distinctly Scottish voice on a global stage, it might be the creeping belief that Scotland would be a fairer place if it left parts of the UK behind, it might be a selfish desire surrounding who would more usefully spend Scotland’s considerable energy revenues or it might simply be the unsustainable tug-of-war of a coalition Government taking the UK one way and a Scottish Government taking Scotland another, but it’ll most likely be a Yes vote in 2014 from me.

To be the best you’ve got to beat the best, and I don’t see the UK taking on Finland in education, France in egalitarianism and Sweden in Social Democracy any time soon. Scotland could, given the chance.

How can you get excited about a Russian doll that sits inside another Russian doll? The same way that you can’t get excited about a country that sits inside another country. You can’t see something if you don’t know it’s there and you don’t know something’s there if you can’t see it. It’s time Scotland stepped out of the shadows.

And joining the party that is doing its utmost to make that Yes victory a reality seems appropriate if I am to make good on my personal principle of being a member of a party and assisting in the (very) low level funding of politics that greases the wheels of democracy.

This is not to say that I ever want to be a Convener of this or a Councillor of there, the sooner Scotland moves away from the notion that to be a member of a political party means holding some wonkish desire to hold some sort of office the better. And anyway, another reason the SNP is an appealing party to join at the very fringes is because it is abundantly clear that the party is fizzing with healthy energy, positive ideas and young, fresh talent ready to shore up any MP, MSP, MEP or councillor gaps that may arise, as I suspect we shall no doubt see in May.

It’s worth noting that running a blog and being the member of a political party, particularly the SNP, is an occupational hazard to be risked at one’s peril. It’s no accident that I cancelled my first bout of SNP membership in less than glorious circumstances, but I don’t intend to make the same mistake twice. I maintain that there’s no good reason why an ordinary person can’t write about politics as a hobby without fear of being a fish in a barrel that will inevitably be shot at. (It does help that a particular bane of my own blogging life recently ran into pleasingly emasculating professional difficulties, even if indulging in such schadenfreude probably makes me a slightly lesser person).

Not that the SNP is perfect of course. There are good reasons beyond Malcolm Chisholm MSP why the area I will be moving to is the only constituency in Scotland not represented by the SNP at Holyrood. Complacency is surely not an option for a party a couple of years out from the biggest date in its history. All negative associations, from Rupert Murdoch down to Joan McAlpine, should be objectively considered. Not that one should join a party only to take pot shots at it.

Many Scots have joined the SNP in 2012. The party, and by extension Scotland itself, has a seductive momentum and is clearly going places. In the spirit of being the change that one wants to see in the world, from greater public participation in political parties through to Scotland having a voice on the world stage, it is very pleasing indeed to be back onboard.