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In the EU we have extremely different countries. What is exactly your point?

• rayiner 10y ago
  And the EU will either end up with a bunch of very different people unhappy about being forced into the same polity, or it will end. America proves you cannot have Democratic sovereign states tied together by an overarching union. America is a lot more homogenous than Europe and even then it's intensely straining here. Neither Alabama nor Massachusetts are happy being forced into the same polity with each other--voting in the same elections and being governed by the same laws.
  • gonvaled 10y ago
    > Massachusetts can't just decide to become a Scandanavian-style welfare state if it can't control the flow of people and commerce across its borders In the EU we have some countries with Scandinavian-style welfare states, and some without it. And still the EU exists, which seems impossible according to your comment.
    • rayiner 10y ago
      All of the pre-2000s EU members have robust welfare states. It's an open question whether the EU will continue to exist with all the new members (or whether it would have continued to exist taking on countries like Turkey like it was originally on course to do).
      • gonvaled 10y ago
        > taking on countries like Turkey like it was originally on course to do Pushed by the UK and the US