You understand very little. (That was not even runner-up in my reasons when I votes Yes for Hungary to join the EU.)

Not mutual defense.

No one said it's mutual defense.

the government fostered western expansion, not identity.

And Western expansion fostered identity. It's a basic logical chain.

indiviual achievement, individual freedeom and individual prosperity is the founding cornerstone.

Depends on whom you ask. It may be true for you. At any rate, the old American state, regional (say, Confederate...) and religious identities, and economic structures like plantations, were washed away by the forces I mentioned, and made it possible in the first place for Libertarians and like-minded Republicans to preach individualist capitalism the defining mark of the USA today.

Therefore, you have a band of elites who think they are smarter than the other europeans and want to control them through socialistic mechanisms.

LOL. Your caricature couldn't be further from the truth. Our elites aren't much of a believer in socialistic mechanisms, they are increasingly believers in opressive and anti-democratic free-market mechanisms.

Most of what I have read here only confirms that suspician.

I have noticed earlier that you don't undestand what you are reading here. Say, Migeru on natiuonalism and Spain. I suggest you first make the effort to understand before making judgements.

_{*Lunatic*, n.
One whose delusions are out of fashion.}