So, this turns dependence on its head. Dependence is a good thing. Independence is a bad thing.

Independence is a faustian bargain. There's nothing really magical about country borders; you could strive for independence from the rest of your country, or from the rest of your state, or from the rest of your local community or even from anyone outside your family.

Independence is synonomous with poverty; particularly if you take it to extremes. The more diverse the set of people, expertize and resources you can pull toghether to cooperate the more efficiently you can create utillity; the most striking example is any form of entertainment media, software or electronic hardware(to design and start manufacturing high-end processors it takes billions of dollars, a vast body of knowledge and skill from tens of thousands of people working in academia, industry, software and hardware algorithms, litography, marketing, power conditioning and UPS, air quality control, stress testing and statistical analysis of failure rates etc.) where the initial cost is high but the cost of each additional copy is low.