A dire but accurate assessment of our plight. We have to hope for the best (Kamala winning) but prepare for the worst (Trump winning or successfully stealing the election with the help of a thoroughly corrupted Supreme Court). But either way, the underlying social pathologies you describe so well will still fester, eroding our democracy and leading to unimaginable social collapse and violence.

Our best bet as individuals is to follow the advice given in the I Ching (an ancient Chinese book of divination with accrued commentaries), in a hexagram called “the darkening of the light.” The advice is that the best way to combat encroaching evil is not necessarily to fight it directly, since “hate is a form of subjective involvement with the hated object,” but rather, to make “energetic progress in the good.” This can take many forms, depending on the circumstances, but the best general guidance I know is Gandhi’s formulation of “satyagraha:” AHIMSA (doing no harm; nonviolent noncooperation with evil); SATYA (speaking truth to power); and SWARAJ (self-discipline and community-building at the local level). And doing all these mindfully, strategically, and relentlessly.