[Political Junkie Too]

Generally, yes, but there are some major differences:

1. The United States came first. The EU, perhaps, was modeled on us.
2. The EU members were mostly monarchies for centuries, even millennia. The United States was never a monarchy or conquered state, and began as the Great Experiment of a government by the consent of the people. This is what "American Exceptionalism" meant, as it was the first of its kind.
3. In the United States, everyone spoke the same language and had the same currency. The EU members spoke different languages and gave up their national currencies.
4. In the United States, everyone had the same loyalty. In the EU, cultural and ethnic identities remained under the surface, an may be about to burst back out into the open.

-PJ

[cuban leaf]

Yes. That is why I called it a “pre-civil war” perspective. And I mean I “loosely” compare it to the EU.

I keep thinking about, before the war, people calling themselves “virginians”.

I use this analogy, before the war, the country was like a brick wall. The bricks are states and the mortar is the FedGov.

But now it is a mortar wall with fifty little marbles embedded in it.