As of today we’re two weeks out from Election Day, which is maybe not quite as important a date as it used to be. According to the Times — which I still pretty much trust on matters of fact, though their willfully perverse editorial slant on this campaign will hopefully be the subject of an illuminating expose someday — 17 million people have voted already. And even after November 5 the wrangling over vote totals is likely to drag on for days, weeks, or even (groan) months.

Still, Election Day is the nexus around which all this revolves, and as it approaches I am trying very hard to cultivate serenity. (Post-Seinfeld, one tends to think that serenity now leads automatically to insanity later… but I’m willing to take the risk.) That doesn’t mean not caring about the outcome, but it does mean accepting that all is unfolding as it must.

I mean, what’s the worst that could happen? That Fucking Guy gets elected, ushers in the 4th Reich, starts deporting and/or arresting anybody he doesn’t like, and when his mind finally breaks for real — which it seems about to do any minute now — holes up in the toilet with the football and launches all the nukes.

But that probably won’t happen, and even if he wins, some of his worst plans most likely will never come to pass — not because his intentions aren’t evil, but because he is a lazy oaf with a short attention span.

Assuming sanity prevails and Kamala wins, there will be a brief period of relief, and then can go back to arguing about the Middle East, climate change, and other things that matter. Which we should consider a privilege, I suppose.

In the meantime, I’m grabbing peace wherever I can find a little. Music is always an important source of course. Here’s a song I always turn to in turbulent times, and it seems to still work, maybe better than ever: