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This multibook review argues that identity-driven polarization interacts with institutional design to erode democratic guardrails. Reading Heather Cox Richardson鈥檚 Democracy Awakening, Tom Schaller and Paul Waldman鈥檚 White Rural Rage, and Ezra Klein鈥檚 Why We're Polarized through an economist鈥檚 lens, I emphasize two claims. First, when institutions fail to deliver broadly shared security and dignity, anti-pluralist projects gain legitimacy and room to maneuver. Second, questions of belonging, citizenship, and the obligations of government to the people are informed by culture and institutional trust. The culture of the United States is not one that lends itself readily to ethnonationalism, but these books make a case for an America that is, and perhaps has always, been divided by notions of who 鈥渨e鈥� are. I situate the books within the economics literature on populism, polarization, and institutions, and examine what we can learn about rebuilding both prosperity and democratic resilience in the United States.
