Vice President Kamala Harris had to get her message out and make herself known to voters in record time. Her difficulty differentiating herself from Biden cost her.

For some, she talked about herself too much and not enough about her policies. For others, it was the reverse. Some said she spent too much time attacking Donald Trump, while others said she didn’t say enough. Many say she mistakenly prioritized abortion instead of the economy, which voters identified as the key campaign issue. Perhaps Harris succumbed to the fate of other incumbent global leaders blamed for a worldwide recession. No party can ever escape what happens on their watch, declares pollster Patrick Ruffini in his book, “Party of the People.”

Yet, despite the media’s endless critiques of the Harris campaign, despite how disaffected and frustrated so many voters feel, and despite how hard life is for so many, I cannot justify the choice of millions of Americans to vote for a tyrant who amplified misogyny, racism, transphobia, and xenophobia to discredit his opponent.

I reached out to my friend, moral philosopher Emmett Barcalow, to ask the question that keeps me up at night: Why did so many people choose to vote for the candidate who so openly expressed his intention to destroy the lives of so many? Emmett told me about the Sophists, “itinerant teachers in ancient Greece, who went from town to town giving lessons for money to teach people running for office how to use persuasion … Put a sophist next to someone who knows the truth and the Sophist will win, because so many people don’t know enough to tell the difference.”

As Plato’s character in The Republic, Thrasymachus, explained, “People who are just, finish last and people who are unjust prosper, so it’s foolish to try to be a just person. If you’re unapologetically unjust, you’ll come out on top.”

Trump, a modern day Thrasymachus, is a master at using scapegoating and weaponizing differences to divide and conquer and steer people away from realizing his destructive agenda won’t address the economic frustrations of his working \-class supporters. He is not the friend of disaffected working-class men that he claims to be. A 2018 report by the Economic Policy Institute lists significant anti-labor actions Trump took in his first year: epi.org/publication/ten-actions-that-hurt-workers-during-trumps-first-year/.

It’s hard to get up in the morning and read the headlines proclaiming how Trump is setting the stage to deport millions of undocumented people, seek retribution for “the enemy within,” abandon our allies and enroll us in the axis of evil, and so much more. How can anyone in good conscience cast a vote that has the potential to destroy not only human beings, but our precious planet?

The United States has never been a land of “liberty and justice for all,” but I believe we aspire to be better. Perhaps the silos we inhabit have erased any sense of connection or responsibility to those who we deem “the other.” If so, then surely, democracy will die. In the words of the late Rabbi Lord Jonathan Sacks, “If we care for the future of democracy, we must recover that sense of shared morality that binds us to one another.”

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Those who voted for Trump with the single-minded hope of a better economy need only look at his list of inexperienced and often unhinged Cabinet appointments, and the actions he is already taking to install himself as king. Still, the media continues to hail him as if he were a hero.

Since the election, even children are emulating Trump’s campaign rhetoric, and it’s gone local. I was horrified to hear from a teacher friend that children of color she knows have been assaulted with words and fists by their classmates, who have told them they are going to be deported, that they should go back to where they came from, that they’re garbage, that boys are now in charge of girls. How long will it take before a child is driven to suicide?

It’s time for action. Democracy is not a spectator sport. We all need to step up. Teachers, faith-based leaders, parents and neighbors must instill the value of caring for each other. Media literacy is a critical skill that everyone needs to develop to combat the spread of disinformation. Our schools must arm children with knowledge of ethics, justice, social issues, and the importance of voting, as well as civics, history and geography, and of course, self-esteem.

Each of us must hold our schools accountable for educating our children, as well as keeping them safe. Those who benefit from white privilege cannot rest easy, knowing that other children are at risk and that their own children, in an effort to fit in, may model their classmates’ behaviors. What have you told the children in your life about this election? How can you help children internalize notions of interdependence and caring for others and the planet?

The New Yorker magazine Editor David Remnick reminds us that, “Everyone, especially those in positions of power or influence, has a choice: to act with decency and resolution or to promote or abide cruelty.”

What will you do to resist tyranny? For ideas, read Tim Snyder’s little, but mighty book, “On Tyranny.”

Our planet and our children need us now, more than ever.

Sara Weinberger lives in Easthampton.