The big picture incongruence in the thread is using terms as patriotic, allegories to US states, which imo is but a US-centric projection. Even proponents don’t

The big picture incongruence in the thread is using terms as patriotic, allegories to US states, which imo is but a US-centric projection. Even proponents don’t think of the EU to be a supreme government with federated states, and they certainly don’t think of ”Europeans” as a unified demographic. At best, the EU protects against stupid shit from other EU countries (tariffs, freedom of movement) and stupid shit against the outside, such as bullying by superpowers like Russia, China and recently also the US, or extremely large corporations who can take on smaller nation states. The EU is more similar to NAFTA or five eyes, and culturally the loyalty is more similar to the US vs the anglosphere, like how Americans think of Australia, UK and Canada. Well, again, until recently. Things are changing fast.