“Marty, the future isn’t written. It can be changed…you know that. Anyone can make their future whatever they want it to be.” — Dr. Emmett Brown
Last week, for our family movie night, we watched a classic: Back to the Future.
I’m going to assume that you’ve seen it (if you haven’t, you should!). But as a refresher…
It’s all about a teenager named Marty McFly. He’s the son of Lorraine and George McFly – a timid and submissive man who has been bullied mercilessly by a big burly guy named Biff his entire life. We meet the McFly family at their sad, drab home after Biff has totaled George’s car. True to his timid nature, George refuses to confront Biff even after Biff destroyed the family car – instead promising to do Biff’s work for him and deliver it to Biff’s house early the next morning.
We can see that Marty’s dad has never stood up for himself (or anyone else, for that matter).
Then, through a series of strange events, Marty goes back 30 years to the 1950s – and meets his parents as they were as teenagers.
Because Marty’s time travel has interrupted his parents’ first meeting, he has altered history – and most of the movie is spent with him both trying to erase the impact that he’s had and making sure he can get Back to the Future.
But the pivotal moment in the movie happens when bully Biff is forcing himself on Lorraine – who is crying out for help.
In a rare moment of courage, George comes to her rescue and punches Biff so hard that he knocks him out cold. Now George has altered history, too – he’s stood up for himself (and Lorraine) – presumably for the first time.
Lorraine melts in his arms, and the rest, as they say, is history. (Or, rather, the future.)
In any case, now Marty can go Back to the Future. When he does, he’s shocked at what he finds: a confident, self-assured father. The once-drab family home is now bright and sunny. His father has published a book.
And Biff – yes that Biff – is waxing the McFly family car.
And that’s when we see: George standing up in that one moment changed the course of his life – and the lives of plenty of other folks around him.
It’s inspirational.
And of course it’s completely fictional.
But it reminded me of the shattered and tattered Republican party…
Because … they’re George.
And not the new-and-improved version, either. They’re the sniveling, apologetic version who would rather take abuse from the bully than stand up to him – even when their country is on the line.
It’s been a crazy six years, but the Republican House caucus is in its third week of true, unadulterated, chaos. The House of Representatives is completely frozen right now because Republicans can’t elect a speaker – and they refuse to work with Democrats to form a bipartisan coalition that would be able to, you know, keep government functioning.
That they refuse to do so is a political calculation – made because each individual member recognizes that if they vote for a bipartisan coalition, MAGA will come for them.
And they aren’t willing to stand up to the bully.
But the only reason they’re in the predicament they’re in is because rather than standing up to the MAGA movement from the very beginning, they submitted.
Again, and again.
And again.
Over years.
Their submission made it possible for the MAGA movement to grow stronger, and to get entrenched into our political system.
And now, here we are.
It’s a good reminder that every day we have choices to do – or not do – something.
And the choices we make in this moment impact the choices that are available for us in the future. And, of course, the things that we did (or didn’t do) years ago have changed what options we have open to us now.
You reap what you sow, as they say.
There’s still an opportunity for them to stand up and show some backbone. Heck, even George McFly had it in him.
Their future – and our country’s future – depends on it.
Let’s get to work.
Actions for the Week of October 24, 2023
Two Great Events on October 25:
Hard to choose between these two great events!
Democracy Awakening event with Heather Cox Richardson and Katie Couric:
On Wednesday October 25th at 7PM ET, BigTentUSA is hosting historian and popular newsletter author Heather Cox Richardson in conversation with award-winning journalist Katie Couric. They will discuss Richardson’s new book Democracy Awakening: The State of America; how we got to this perilous point, what our history really tells us about ourselves, and what the future of democracy can be.
Indivisible Neighbor2Neighbor Kickoff Event
Join Indivisible on October 25 at 6:30 eastern to learn how to knock on a handful of doors in your neighborhood. Neighbor2Neighbor educational canvassing is a great tool for connecting with your community by celebrating the benefits of the Inflation Reduction Act and disrupting disinformation about the bill. The kickoff call for this program is Oct 25th, where you will learn how to talk to your neighbors, celebrate the historic investment in clean energy and affordable healthcare, and stop the spread of false information.
On the call, they will provide you with training to use the new tool and all the materials you need to be successful canvassing your neighborhood. They will direct you to a map of persuadable neighbors near you who might not know about the Inflation Reduction Act. Then, you just knock on your neighbors’ doors and talk to them about all the benefits of the Inflation Reduction Act.
There will be a breakout room specifically to talk about disinfo work overall and how you can plug into Indivisible’s existing Truth Brigage work. Register here: https://indivisible.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZ0uduypqTMpGteo7044xt-K5R5GYZsMuoye#/registration
Call Your Reps: Elect A Speaker and Get Back to Business
A few important things to note, here. Twelve of the 18 “unrepresentatives” – Republicans who won districts that Biden also won – voted for right-wing MAGA “legislative flamethrower” Jim Jordan for speaker. That proves they’re out of step with their constituents, who are not MAGA.
So while I think it’s worth it for everyone who has a GOP congresscritter to give them a call this week to tell them you’re watching the chaos and you’re not amused, I think it’s especially important – if you are a constituent – to call these 18. They need to know that you’re watching and they will be held accountable for this chaos.
David Schweikert (AZ-01)
Michelle Steel (CA-45)
Mike Lawler (NY-17)
Juan Ciscomani (AZ-06)
Don Bacon (NE-02)
Marc Molinaro (NY-19)
John Duarte (CA-13)
Tom Kean Jr. (NJ-07)
Brandon Williams (NY-22)
David Valadao (CA-22)
Nick LaLota (NY-01)
Lori Chavez-DeRemer (OR-05)
Mike Garcia (CA-27)
George Santos (NY-03)
Brian Fitzpatrick (PA-01)
Young Kim (CA-40)
Anthony D’Esposito (NY-04)
Jen Kiggans (VA-02)
If you are in one of these folks’ districts give them a call every day this week. If you’re in their state, but not their district, who do you know that lives in their district? Now is the time to scour your phone to see who you can tap who is a constituent.
And a special note: if you’re in Missouri and you’re in Ann Wagner’s district, call her office every day this week. She needs to know you will hold her personally responsible for this disfunction.
November 1st, 6-8 ET Ohio Fight For Reproductive Rights Textbank
Indivisible will be hosting a two-hour text party that will utilize “social pressure” texts telling people in Ohio who haven’t voted how high the turnout is in their area. After registering, you will receive a confirmation email from Zoom about joining the meeting; please save that email with the link to click on when the event begins. You must have a Textout account to attend; please create one if you haven’t already done so before the day of the party. You will need to be on Zoom and have TextOut open at the same time. They recommend downloading the Zoom desktop app.
Register here https://indivisible.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZIoduuvqTMrEtAggu46TCz8eeab4UqScOqi#/registration
November 2nd, 6-9 ET Ohio Fight For Reproductive Rights Phonebank
Not into text banks? No problem. Indivisible is hosting a phone bank on November 2. Join Indivisible members nationwide to Ohio voters about voting YES on Issue 1, an amendment to the Ohio State Constitution that would protect the right to abortion and reproductive care, including the right to contraception, fertility treatments, and miscarriage care. Together, we can fight back against MAGA attacks on our reproductive freedoms.
Register here https://indivisible.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZMrdeuhpzwiG91vEUUDm7vA2JS0lCoufPs2#/registration
Keep Your Eyes Out: Lew’s Nomination
The Senate Foreign Relations Committee is having a business meeting tomorrow, Wednesday, October 25, at 10am to consider the nomination of Jacob Lew for Ambassador to Israel. (You can watch live here: https://www.foreign.senate.gov/hearings/business-meeting-10-25-2023) Is your senator on the Committee? Check here: https://www.foreign.senate.gov/about/membership
WHEW! GO TEAM!
P.S.: Why don’t you make someone’s day and send this pep talk to a friend or two? I bet they need it.
If you’d like to sign up to get this pep talk and action list in your in-box each week, you can do that here. Welcome, friend!
P.P.S.: If you want to help support this work you can do so via Patreon at
https://www.patreon.com/smalldeedsdone or via paypal at https://www.paypal.me/smalldeeds
My deepest gratitude in advance.
Thank you for reading. Thank you for writing. I read and respond to every email! We’re in this together. Don’t you forget it.
Small Deeds Done 