Okay not a direct comparison but if I was playing a Paradox grand strategy game and the neighbor country started getting all fascist / authoritarian, I would want to group with like minded nations for protection. Hey we’re already in a defense treaty with them why not make it a more inclusive type agreement? Personally I always felt culturally closer to the UK (yes I know not there anymore) than the US and thought many of our policies mirrored the US due to location and held us back.
Well I was more just meaning when I was growing up and this is going back to the late 80s - 90s. I saw a lot more British television than other European TV (in fact none of other) so didn’t exactly have much else to compare it to in the EU that was. From that and knowing they offered some good services such as post secondary education, healthcare etc it felt like a nicer fit for my ideas. Plus the amount of British words we tended to use.