USA -> EU, State -> state
At least, that's how a lot of people are interpreting it these days, and, as far as identifiers go, it's pretty true too - I know hardly anyone who identifies with their province, but how many people are Proud to be Texan?
The United States of Europe are coming ever closer.
In our union, states can still quit, unlike with you guys, though. Brexit hasn't lead to a civil war yet
(And Belgium used to be the size of Alaska, dwarfing Texas. If we're counting colonies. And if you reply we don't, well, the whole of the USA doesn't exist, heh.)
(And way back when, both the Confederacy *and* the Union were independently smaller than Belgium at the same time O_O)
(Besides, size doesn't matter - it's what you do with it that counts)
(And I'm absolutely willing to admit Belgium's a tiny little country - we were stablished pretty much just as a border between France and Germany, after all)
(I'm just arguing for the sake of arguing)