It's very hard to take part in this debate or whatever it is, because you're constantly misreading what other people are saying or going in circles. For example, python said the argument that the Basque Country has never been independent is just plain silly, not because he claimed the Basque Country has, in fact, been independent before, but because it's completely irrelevant: many countries have never been independent until they were, and having an independent state is not a prerequisite for being a nation. There are many examples of this, contemporary like Kurdistan, and a gazillion if you look at it from a historical point of view: like every single country in the Balkans, or in the Americas, or in the Arab world.
As another example, you keep bringing up the
concierto económico as if it invalidates any nationalist aspirations, when in actual fact Basque nationalism has never made a big deal of the financial issues and has always focused on political and cultural issues. When I pointed that out, you blatantly misread what I said and turned it around (Me: "they're their own nation that doesn't feel represented or comfortable within the broader state of Spain due to a variety of cultural and political reasons, economic plundering
not typically being one of them"; You: "If the Basque economy is being literally “plundered,” why are they one of the richest communities in Spain with its own fiscal privileges?"). Since Basque nationalism isn't about economic issues, the fact that they're well off and rich by Spanish standards is absolutely irrelevant.
My point all along is that the Spanish, by and large, disrespect and disparage the Basque Country, its identity and its symbols, and that that alone might well be reason enough for them to want independence. You've countered that by saying... that they're not a nation (even though they are by any definition), that their language was made up (even though the process of coming up with a standard language to unify several dialects is historically quite common, as Italian and Hebrew, to name but two examples, may attest), that they don't have a common history (because they were split into two separate sides in a, huh, civil war), that Basque nationalism has no real reason to exist, since it's based solely on the myths invented by Sabino Arana, a Nazi (he was a racist, of course; but Basque nationalism outgrew him ages ago). And all of this, while playing the ETA card, as if the methods used by ETA somehow invalidated the goals of nationalism at large. All in all, you're doing a very good job of illustrating exactly what I was getting at, and why many Basques don't want anything to do with Spain, since the average Spaniard clearly has no respect for them as a people.
Incidentally, I don't think it matters whether most Basques want independence or not: those who do are still entitled to make political statements and to try to get the others on their side. But, since you said the Euskobarómetro says only ONE THIRD want independence, let's set the record straight:
http://www.ehu.eus/documents/1457190/1525260/Euskobarometro+Noviembre+2014
That's the most recent one.
Here's a news article about it. True, only 35% say they'd vote Yes on an independence referendum, but what you're not mentioning is that only 34% say they'd vote No. The rest are undecided or would abstain.
PS: This post is for the benefit of neutral observers who might be misled by some things that are being said in this thread, rather than for the benefit of Cheech.