Is Germany? Is the UK?

The point behind the Scotland question is if UK can have some control over Scotland with Scotland remaining a country, even without being fully sovereign from the UK, why doesn't the same apply to members of other higher-level states like EU?

One can make arguments like "why would some folks in England, for instance, decide for people living in Scotland, or Northern Ireland?" but where do you draw the line? Wales has less autonomy than Scotland but is still a "country" on Wikipedia, are they oppressed? Inverness has social policy dictated from the Lowlands, is it not a true democracy then? `davidw in the next comment thread over isn't too happy with the amount of power Wyoming has over California, can it work in the long run? Or is it only EU federation that HN will complain about?