I think you're right! But there's a sharp contrast between the concept of the European nation-state and the U.S. European nations are predicated on ethnic ident

I think you're right! But there's a sharp contrast between the concept of the European nation-state and the U.S. European nations are predicated on ethnic identity. The question of "What is Holland if it is no longer Dutch?" is actually a valid one. Nothing like that could be true in the US, however. The US nation-state is based on a purely civic idea, where ethnicity has no structural purpose.