What happened to American folk culture? America as an idea has long been the culmination of rural communities, building their own traditions and culture off the back of diasporic immigration, religious fervor, and regional economic opportunities.

What does it mean to have national pride? As another Fourth of July arrives in the heat of the Danish summer I find myself unsure of what I’m feeling about my home country. I’ve written before about how my move abroad has actually made me a patriotic American in a way I never was while living at home. The promise of America - that every day thousands of future Americans are born around the globe - is unique in the democratic world.

On Sunday, the Kingdom of Denmark appointed a new monarch. Queen Margrethe II abdicated the role which she held for exactly 52 years which transferred the monarchy to her fifty-five year old son Frederik. The abdication and ascension of the new king only took about an hour.

Why do we get so mad when our sports team loses after a controversial call by the referees? Why are we unwilling to listen to an argument about a conflict without taking issue with the framing of that argument if it doesn’t adequately portray our perceived side’s concerns? Why do we argue with partisans over policy issues we’d otherwise be willing to consider?

This weekend, America embarks on its modern political tradition; the government shutdown. That semi-annual event spurred on by the inability, or lack of desire, to make sure that the necessary and constitutional duty of the American Congress, that being the appropriation of funds to all federal activities, is fulfilled in time before the previous appropriations run out.