American democratic institutions seem increasingly unable to meet American citizens’ psychological needs. In these talks, Benjamin Studebaker delves into the history of political legitimacy. Different states tell different stories about why their form of political order should be accepted, and each story grows out of the ways previous stories have failed. While the United States learned from the failures of ancient and medieval states, its own story is evolving. As the United States tries to draw on the power of concepts like liberty, equality, and representation to justify itself, it changes those concepts beyond recognition. Stuck in a paradigm of neoliberal globalization, the United States is unable to deliver on demanding conceptions of these terms. It desperately tries to water them down. If it succeeds, what will become of the old liberal ideals? If it fails, what will American citizens do with the despair that follows?