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Notes -
In America whites identify more with politically-based cultural identities more than ethnic ones(barring genuine ethnic exceptions, but that’s not exactly generic American whites), and in Europe by finer-grained ethnic identities. This process being described is simply not reflective of reality.
The unification of England, Germany, Italy, and many other nations was preceded by centuries of conflict between finer-grained ethnic identities, with any pie-in-the-sky notions of unification an absurd dream held by an elite few. And then it happened, though it didn't fall from the sky- it was created through the will of those with a vision, and it didn't take very long for those concepts to be internalized as Nations, and the dissolution of those nations into finer-grained ethnicities seems equally unthinkable today in any of the important cases in Europe.
These things seem impossible, until individuals make an effort to foster a spirit of unification. I agree with Hood, the issue of pan-European unification is a "Join or Die" dilemma. Decentralization is not an option, petty nationalism is outdated. It's a global world, and ambitions on a global scale are the only option.
Attitudes of the European far-right towards the EU seem to be becoming more supportive, the European far right embracing a pan-European project is not as impossible as it seems, and it's really the only possible solution.
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