Thanks for your detailed and thought out response here.

even if I had the inclination to "get high," I would not have the time or the money to do so

By 'get high', I wasn't just meaning drugs/alcohol, I was meaning any action that is intended to bring temporary relief to the struggle of daily survival. It might include watching TV, watching sports or many other things. There's nothing wrong with doing these things in and of themself - but if the intention is to escape temporarily, then it is wiser to instead make changes so that there is nothing to escape in the first place.

For me, there is no coercion. I have to earn enough--in conjunction with my wife--to survive

I can certainly understand the idea that there is no coercion because until you start looking behind the magician's economic curtain it seems like you are just doing what life has somehow allotted you and you have no other choice. The reality, though, is that the resources of the planet are absolutely pointed for use in ways that cause your struggle and not in ways that help you as they should be. Why does anyone need to work 60+ hours a week to keep food, air, water, warmth for themselves enough to survive? The answer to that lies in the answer to another question - how are there multi billionaires while 90%+ of the entire planet have almost nothing? The wealth gap is astronomical at this point and this IS coercion. Coercion doesn't need to involve someone directly whipping you. In this case the coercion is systematised. If you decide to go and live freely, on the land, as our ancestors did - you will soon enough encounter system enforcers who will, ultimately, do even more than whip you. It is this implied violence that underpins modern 'economic' systems and that's where we find a lot of the coercion. You wouldn't work as you do if everyone you knew had realised this, dug deeply into it all and dedicated some of their time to coming up with solutions that improve life for everyone.

survival and the necessity of working within the system make it difficult, if not impossible, for me to--realistically--be able to do anything to improve things for myself and, not incidentally, humankind.

I can understand that predicament. I actually chose not to have children partially because I realised that my survival in the long term depends on system change - so I am doing that first. None the less, though, there are ways being tested in real life that allow for a transition from our broken ways to something better. While I won't say I can fully endorse their model, the ubuntu movement is an interesting one. I just started reading their book (finally) and am likely going to design my own version:

https://ubuntuplanet.org/

It is fear, not coercion.

Coercion tends to rely on causing the fear. Part of the key to healing here is to trace the way in which the fear and the situation has been created deliberately in order to covertly coerce.

Thankyou for pointing to the fear, it is absolutely true that knowing how to completely heal fear is a huge part of what is needed now.

I suggest putting a bit of time into listening to Michael Tellinger and the ubuntu movement guys.. They are currently pushing to get their people elected as mayors around the world, as a way to skip passed the corrupt democratic governmental systems.. I'm not sure if that will work, but it has in a few places!