The last half century has been a period of great disillusionment. A recent NBC News poll indicated that 74 percent of the American people believe the country is headed in the wrong direction. According to Gallup, the American people’s general confidence in their national institutions is at an all-time low, averaging 27 percent, down from just under 50 percent in 1979. Our resident humanities scholar asks, what happens when the glue that holds our society together stops sticking?