It was Labor Day weekend 2016, and Dylan and I were at Standing Rock when protesters began an unplanned march. In violation of a restraining order, Dakota Access Pipeline workers had resumed construction of the pipeline, bulldozing what the Water Protectors called an Indian burial ground.

I stopped at a water station in the blazing sun and a man handed me a bottle. In front of them, private security forces unleash their dogs on the crowd, biting men, women, horses… children. A yellow helicopter buzzed above us like an angry wasp.

“There is a spiritual battle going on up there,” the man said.

It’s a depiction of what’s happening in America today: an election pitting fascism—you know, the guys your grandfather and dad fought in World War II—against the U.S. Constitution that our ancestors fought.

It is a spiritual battle.

For ten years, we have witnessed a hardening of the American debate. Trump says things to applause that might have punished children not long ago. He exploits vague anger by bringing out prejudices and impossible conspiracies. A campaign fueled by hatred.

Followers now use the word “Democrat” derogatorily, when in fact progressives have also died on the battlefield alongside Republicans defending America. They love America as much as conservatives do. We simply disagree on certain issues, so we debate and compromise. This is what democracies do. They don’t descend into fascism when times are tough.

Left wing, right wing; it takes both for the eagle to fly.

It’s hard to reconcile what I hear from extremist politicians with what I hear from my neighbors in one of the most Republican counties in one of the most conservative states in the country. There isn’t a neighbor I wouldn’t trust to support me, and I hope they know I support theirs.

It is the collective hive mind that fuels the paranoia, fear, and irrational emotions that drive people into the streets and crawling up the sides of the U.S. Capitol with Confederate flags and weapons. People stop thinking.

My friends give me quizzical looks when I tell them that I still have faith in the American people. And I do, based on my daily experiences. Americans are inherently honest and kind.

This election will not mark the end of the unrest, regardless of the vote count tomorrow morning. If Trump loses, there will be legal challenges and possibly worse. But if he wins, democratic ideals will not disappear.

“The arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice,” said Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. That moral arc has already begun to bend. Keep the faith.

Tony Bender writes an exclusive weekly column from North Dakota for Forum News Service.