Our family just got done reading Guts & Glory: Revolutionary War as a bedtime read. It’s technically a history book, but it’s entertaining and clever and everyone loves it. (Especially me.)
It’s a book filled with stories of everyday people doing absolutely extraordinary things.
Like Captain Samuel Whittemore, a tough-as-nails 78-year-old New England farmer and local civic leader. Although he had served in the British Army for 50 years, he was elected as a delegate to the Massachusetts Committee of Convention (which objected to Parliament’s revenue acts and the quartering of troops) and to the Cambridge Committee of Correspondence, which objected to the Tea Act (a big deal at the time.)
In 1776, Whittemore lived in Menotomy, Massachusetts, a town along the route the Brits took to return to Boston from the famous battles of Lexington and Concord. Word spread along the countryside that the redcoats were on their way – drawing area farmers and minutemen who sniped at the Brits for the entire 18 mile trip. (One British report complained that they did not have five minutes of peace.)
Whittemore didn’t snipe at the redcoats from the treeline. He had a different plan.
He lay in wait for them behind a stone wall.
Once the Brits were close enough for his ambush, he singlehandedly burst out upon them – shooting three at close range (one with a musket and the other two with dueling pistols) and engaging the rest of them in a sword fight with an ornate French sword he had captured off a French officer decades before.
He was shot in the face, bayonetted 13 times, bludgeoned, and left for dead.
But he didn’t die.
His friends and neighbors found him on the ground, very much alive and still trying to reload his musket.
He lived to be 96 (or 98, depending upon your source) – long enough to see the country he had fought to create take its first baby steps forward.
The story of Whittemore’s stand is a great story to demonstrate just how fervently people believed in the cause, the great sacrifices people were willing to make to get out from under the king’s thumb – and the heroism displayed by the outgunned and outnumbered colonists.
But there’s something jarring about reading stories like Wittemore’s in these times, isn’t there? After all, we’ve had generations of relatively cushy democracy. We certainly don’t personally know what it’s like to be ruled by a king, where one man alone makes all the rules.
But we could soon.
Over the weekend, Trump gave a Veteran’s Day speech in which he echoed verbiage used by Adolf Hitler and Benito Mussolini to dehumanize their opponents. He promised to “root out … the radical left thugs that live like vermin within the confines of our country.” He’s promised mass deportations and sprawling “holding facilities” that would expedite the removal of millions of people each year.
Of course there will be legal challenges. But because lawyers thwarted his plans last time, this time he plans to overwhelm them with a “blitz” of policies. “The immigration legal activists won’t know what’s happening,” said Stephen Miller. Their strategy is to simply flood the zone with unconstitutional policies, assuming some will slip by.
Meanwhile, Trump lackies are hard at work vetting some 50k potential employees that would do his bidding and who can be installed at all levels of the government. Axios described it as “a transition team set in motion years in advance.” Anyone who’s queasy about testing Trump’s power will be rejected.
He’s also promised to unleash the FBI, Justice Department, and the intelligence community on political rivals; appoint only the most aggressive to Homeland Security; and wipe out civil service protections for tens of thousands of employees – effectively purging career employees and pollinating each agency with pro-Trump allies.
He’s not hiding his plans, or who he is, or what he wants out of a second term.
He wants to be king.
This is all happening all out in the open, making the choice in the 2024 election a very clear one: democracy, or autocracy.
You’d think that would be a simple choice. But what seemed so crystal clear in 1776 has become muddled with “messaging” and weaponized grievances. Honorable, historic words are twisted by people who want to shirk their responsibility to others (like those who quote “These are the times that try men’s souls” in public comments on mask mandates or letting trans kids play sports). There’s a sense of disbelief about a second Trump term – that it couldn’t happen, or that “it would never be that bad.”
To that, I can only say: says who?
Captain Whittemore believed so fervently in the cause of democracy that he armed himself to the teeth and ambushed a British regiment all on his own, at nearly 80 years old. He was fighting against a king as much as he was fighting for a new country.
We are being asked to do so much less. We’re being asked to engage. Advocate. Register.
And vote.
We can do that, friends. Frankly, we have to.
So let’s get to work.
Actions for the Week of November 14, 2023
Veterans Day Tuberville Action
On Saturday November 11, we as a country celebrated our nation’s veterans. No doubt your senators posted about it on social media. Now’s the time to call them out – especially if they are Republicans – to let them know that Tuberville’s irrational hold on military promotions proves that Republicans are all talk and no support.
There needs to be a national pressure campaign on all Republicans here.
Senator Tuberville’s Senate hold has now held up a whopping 375 promotions. Republican senators (Dan Sullivan (Alaska), Joni Ernst (Iowa) Todd C. Young (Ind.) and Lindsey O. Graham (S.C.)) have publicly confronted Tuberville on the floor of the Senate.
Sullivan even said: “The key is you put a hold on someone who typically has some kind of control over the issue you’re trying to fix. Why are we putting holds on war heroes?”
Indeed, Senator. Indeed.
Patience is wearing thin, it seems – so it’s a good time to call your Republican Senators and tell them that you respect what Sullivan, Ernst, Young and Graham did by confronting Tuberville and you’re wondering why your senator isn’t doing the same.
Of course, if your senator is one of the ones who called Tuberville out on the floor, please call them with some kind words.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/2023/11/01/tuberville-military-promotion-hold/
Moonshot for Long Covid!
Funding for research into Long Covid has stalled, and right now there is no plan to replace it. A recent commentary in the journal Nature called for a commitment of at least one billion dollars per year for the next ten years for NIH research funding and clinical trials. Let’s call our representative and Senators and ask them to invest in research needed to help the estimated 20 million Americans who have Long Covid.
You can read more at https://longcovidmoonshot.com/ – which created this excellent script!
Script: My name is _____________ and I’m one of Senator/Representative [NAME]’s constituents in _____________
Like tens of millions of other Americans, I have a [friend / loved one / family member] with Long Covid.
NIH funding for Long Covid research has run out, and there’s still no approved treatment.
A recent commentary in the journal Nature called for a commitment of at least one billion dollars per year for the next ten years for NIH research funding and clinical trials. I’m joining that call, and I hope you will too.
[For Senators] I also ask that Senator [NAME] support the existing Long Covid bill S.2560, which includes educating healthcare providers about Long Covid.
[For House Reps] I also ask that Representative [NAME] support the existing Long Covid bills HR.3258, which supports establishment of Long Covid clinics, and HR.1114, which includes educating healthcare providers about Long Covid.
20 million Americans are now living with Long Covid, and 90% of those were from mild infections. There are no approved treatments, and research funding has dried up.
Can I count on Representative/Senator [NAME] to support people suffering with Long Covid?
Register Voters In GA (Wednesday):
Join Field Team 6 in contacting eligible voters (likely Democrats) in Georgia!
Making sure people are registered to vote, and that they can vote safely from home, is a super-effective way to make a difference. Field Team 6 helps turn voices into votes! All training provided. Register here: https://www.mobilize.us/mobilize/event/570523/
Tennessee Folks: Join Field Team 6 For a Zoom Happy Hour!
Last week’s Every State Blue Tennessee event with Trae Crowder was amazing. If you missed it but you still want to learn more about what’s happening in TN, join Field Team 6 for a Zoom Happy Hour all about the Volunteer State. We’ll meet organizers and candidates working to flip TN blue and discuss how Field Team 6 can support these efforts, and we’ll hear from Tennessee folks who have taken action with Field Team 6 since the last Happy Hour. https://www.mobilize.us/mobilize/event/581622/
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 