“Liberal democracy is crumbling.” A Harvard law professor opened a recent talk with this matter-of-fact statement and the audience readily murmured its assent.

The daily headlines certainly seem to confirm this assessment — that we are a nation in crisis. Yet, the nature of the crisis remains murky. While it is clear that in 2016 we witnessed an unprecedented display of shifting political sentiments, it is far less clear what the implications of this shift are.

There are numerous interpretations floating around. Some argue that the US government has taken an authoritarian turn and that President Trump, through doltishness, design, or both, is sabotaging the functionality of the state, rendering it incapable of carrying out the basic duties of democratic governance. Others focus on the growing sense that ordinary people have lost faith in the government — both in its ability to act in their interests and in the belief that they have a meaningful voice or a place in the demos.