IN Scotland we like to think of ourselves as a family.

The shared history, the collective joys and sorrows, the fallings out, the reunions, the who said what to whom at cousin Mary's wedding, all of it ties us together. As of this week, our blended family has a new name. Say cheerio to the Scots in all their diversity and prepare to high-five The McSimpsons.

The planet's favourite dysfunctional brood came to mind on seeing the results of an Ipsos Mori poll translated into a map of the UK. There was Scotland, a vast swathe of uninterrupted SNP/Simpsons yellow, with the party set to take every seat in the country. Previous polls at least had some red splodges to show Labour was still alive, but now here it was, from shining sea to shining sea, an ocean of SNP gold. We are all yellow now, it seems. Every last Marge, Homer, Lisa, Bart, Maggie, and Santa's Little Helper of us. How mellow should we feel about that?

Mellow is not a label that sits easily on this General Election. It has seemed like the longest war and, as in an extended campaign, the most vicious fighting will be saved for the last stretch, when combatants are weary and fractious. And those are just the voters. A sign of how strange the times have become lay first in the actions of Liberal Democrat MP Danny Alexander, the Chief Secretary to the Treasury, who claimed that the Tories had plans, denied by the party, to cut child benefit and child tax credits. Here was a minister, in short, leaking the goings-on in a government of which he had been a part. A clear case of a Ginger Rodent (copyright Harriet Harman) departing a sinking ship, or a doughty and principled MP laying down a marker for any future coalition? Come on, Danny, squeak up.

Just in case Mr Alexander's intervention was not enough of a political acid trip, The Scottish Sun came out in favour of the SNP, portraying Nicola Sturgeon, the First Minister, as Princess Leia of Star Wars. Meanwhile, in another Sun galaxy not too far away - let us call it England - readers were being urged to vote Tory to save the kingdom from those rebellious Scots in the SNP. Over to you, Professor Hawking, to apply the concept of multiple universes to that one, if you can.

No matter how one looks at it, either from outer space or from the packed streets that greet Ms Sturgeon's every walkabout, Scotland appears to be as one in gravitating towards the SNP in this election. The narrative has been a simple, seductive one. Only the SNP, we are told, will truly stand up for Scotland at Westminster. Why would we not want to send our best team to do the business down south? Isn't there strength in numbers? There did not used to be when the map of Scotland was mostly red. Labour MPs then were dubbed mere voting fodder. But SNP MPs will be different, because the times are different. In a hung parliament, they will be calling the shots.

Now, Ms Sturgeon may be the most popular party leader in the UK at present, but polls also show there is unease in England about what influence the SNP might exert on a minority Labour government. While one could argue this is froth whipped up by a Tory party desperate to divide in order to carry on ruling, it remains the case that concern exists and is being stoked. Ms Sturgeon knows this, hence the thousands of air miles travelled and a charm offensive that makes Bill Clinton in his heyday look like the most retiring of wallflowers. So much for England's unease. The First Minister, if she is canny, will recognise that a large part of the home crowd, particularly after the Ipsos Mori poll, is in need of reassurance too. The SNP membership surge may be a remarkable thing, but last time I checked it did not encompass every person in Scotland.

In part, fears over SNP dominance may simply come down to the Marx factor, Groucho not Karl, of not wanting to be part of a club that would rush to embrace us all as members. Some folk are just not the joining kind. Some are more comfortable on the outside looking in. Similarly, not all are cut out for hero or heroine worship. There is something to be said for positivity, but equally there is only so much of this new, touchy-feely-happy-clappy politics a body can be expected to take before raising a sceptical eyebrow. We are Scottish. Football is the national sport; not cheerleading.

There are bigger worries, however, than the entire population of Scotland coming across as one big Coca-Cola advert, teaching the rest of the world how to sing in perfect harmon-ee. Scotland turning a uniform yellow on May 7 may be the stuff of which nationalist dreams are made, but in the long term it might not leave the country in the pink democratically. Consider, for a start, what will be left behind. First, a Scottish Tory party whose leadership in London has spent the campaign stirring up resentment against Scots, all to buy English votes in the marginals. No amount of eyewash or mouthwash will remove the bad taste that leaves behind. The LibDems, punished for past betrayals, will have all but vanished. No-one will ever agree with Nick again. And then there will be Labour, reduced to one man and his dog, that one man perhaps being Jim "Two Jobs" Murphy. How does that landscape look to the eye? How does it sit in the mind?

There is something about thumping majorities that should make any democrat think twice. The people may have spoken, but those who disagree need to be listened to as well. Moreover, healthy democracies need strong oppositions to keep governments in check. A robust opposition also ensures that the mind of government stays on the job of what it was elected to do. One wonders, for example, how much better off Scotland would be today if as much time, energy and resources had gone into education, health, and improving productivity as went into staging a referendum.

There is another reason to look at that all-yellow electoral map and pause. Not so long ago there was a force in Scotland that was where the SNP are now. They were not in fact as powerful as the SNP are set to be but, by virtue of their concentration in certain areas, they held sway. Years passed and they grew lazy, taking the voters for granted. What had been a whiff here and there of complacency, and worse, became a stench. Eventually, the electorate had to let some air in, and as the door swung open the incumbents were booted out. And so Scottish Labour learned that absolute power is not absolutely a good thing, for the governed or the governing. As a result, come May 8, Labour in Scotland will be left slapping its collective forehead and issuing a heartfelt "D'oh!". The SNP should fear one day doing the same.