The article posed the question, "what is the appeal of Scottish identity?" That's an interesting question.

I can't speak for people outside America (and I don't even pretend to speak for all Americans), but to me the answer is simple. Americans don't have much of a history or a culture of our own. Everything we are, we brought from somewhere else. Those who were born and raised in Scotland - and elsewhere in Europe and Asia - have a pretty good idea where they came from. They have a long history, plenty of cultural roots, etc. We Americans can only look back so far in our own history before we run up against the proverbial wall. We came from somewhere else. Where else would we look besides where we came from?

I think that most Europeans and folks born in the UK really can't understand what it's like not to have history. I would guess that the vast majority of Americans can only trace their family back a couple of generations. It's frustrating. So it's natural for Americans to idealize a culture they might happen to find in their muddled genealogy.