"It was my understanding that Scotland wanted to be separate from England in the way Canada or Mexico are separate from the United States."

Some Scots want to be seperate but it is a massive jump to suggest that the country as a whole wants to be. I support independence myself but it is a debate within Scotland and it is a debate about how to best go forward - within the union or outwith the union. And it is a civilised debate with no need to demonise others despite the kind of nonsense you can find on some internet sites. The problem for the SNP is that most Scots don't appear to support independence at the moment. It has been higher and has been lower at periods but support for independence tends to be around 30% or so. Bigger numbers lean towards devo-max (ie more devolution within the union) but that is unlikely to be on the referendum at this point. Whatever happens the losing campaign will accept the democratic choice of the Scottish electorate. You get the tiny loony minority posting on youtube Braveheart videos etc but for the vast bulk of Scots it is just a democratic debate which isn't even that heated. It is our own choice though. No-one else is trying to force us to stay in the union and no-one else needs to come and free us.