The recent trend of the United States towards illiberalism can be explained by the increase in political polarization. Zakaria distinguishes a liberal democracy as one that respects the rights of the political minority. Certain countermajoritarian structures are by necessity built in – think the Constitution in the U.S context, the domain of the by design least democratic branch of the government: the judiciary. But others existed informally, shot throughout our democracy. The Senate had traditions, never codified, that dictated how the chamber operated; those are now eroding rapidly, as exemplified by the ending of the judicial filibuster soon after Trump’s election. The norms of American democratic life more broadly are to diffuse to summarize, but they too have been lost, as seen in the World Values Survey cited in the Foa and Mounk reading that claimed Americans have lost faith in democracy and its institutions.

Why has this occurred? The first explanation provided by Foa and Mounk seems persuasive. Citizens are less materially secure than they were in previous generations. That insecurity has translated to a distrust of institutions –  government and the system can no longer be relied on to provide the benefits that once made life stable. This sets up one of the antidemocratic conditions Professor Malekzadeh talked about in the lecture: people believe that every election might have dire consequences for their way of life. If your ideological foes win, history might end. This partisanship is translated into who citizens vote into the Senate. The partisanship currently seen is not contrary to the people’s wishes – it is reflective of it. While most Americans are dissatisfied with Congress as a whole, they hold their own Congressperson in high esteem. They are fine with uncompromising positions, and even prefer them, as can be seen in the spate of primary challenges from the outer ideological fringes of the parties. Party apparatuses are now seen – correctly or incorrectly – as checks to the strident ideological demands of their voter bases. I don’t see this changing until the voters themselves return to a level of security close to the one currently enjoyed by members of Congress.