"He was my great-great-grandfather", and you do all that you can to follow in his footsteps. My however-many-great-great-grandfather was Roger Williams. It's interesting how, way back in the 1920's, when religions stayed separate in the United States, my MGM (his descendent) welcomed Jews and Catholics into her home. Of the four of us children, one is married to a Jew, I am married to a Buddhist, one is married to a Lutheran (my parents' religion), and the other, very sadly, is tied up in the evangelic "christian" stuff. Knowing Grandmommy, she'd probably have welcomed him, despite that choice.
So cool,kdsherpa, that Roger Williams is your however-many-great-great grandfather! I’m a native Rhode Islander(Florida now).He was so remarkable and such an important historical figure.Truly revered in RI…and he would be absolutely aghast at what has happened in Florida.
Well, pretty much everyone I knew who was born and raised in RI, and I believe RI in general. Of course we learned about his founding the RI colony ,fight for separation of church and state and ability to make peace with Narragansett Indians. And of course, it was a different time but I never heard any of my many Catholic friends (RI is VERY catholic) have anything but reverence for Roger Williams.And there are so many things named after him…college,parks, zoo, numerous statues(link is my favorite) and my URI dining hall… I know some even celebrate a Roger William’s Day.
I knew some superficial things about Roger Williams, but thanks to your reference, I began reading more extensively. He really was an amazing person!
Talk about courage! Interestingly, in our family tree, there is a person related to Roger Williams who married a Wampanoag. (That's my only claim to relationship with the First People. :-) )
Thank you, Tom for a really great and much needed post. In this election, as Liz Cheney intimated in her address, we need to vote as Americans, not as Democrats or Republicans. I want to retain our representative republic. This is why I chose to be an American.
Thanks Carol. We’ve taken in storm refugees who’ve lost everything. Milton is just an added trauma. Sadly our streets are still full of mountains of debris. We can’t imagine how this latest storm will redistribute the piles we’ve spent days putting on the curb.
Yes to all of this. I wish the media from broadcast to cable would speak out like they were speaking to children (apologies to children) - Trump is dangerous!! ABC News has done a relatively good job, but they need to be more blunt. It frustrates me we know the danger, but the country as a whole is asleep. It's good several groups of Republicans have come out for Harris/Walz in writing, but it would have more impact if ALL of them along with Joyce Vance, Rick Wilson, Jennifer Rubin, et al stood together and held a press conference calling out the dangerous fascist MAGA movement. Instead they all speak from their own platforms you have to subscribe to. I get it. Really. But this is a crisis of the magnitude of Nazi Germany. Over coffee a very intelligent friend who is a Physician's Assistant said to me, "Well, Rita, you can't let politics divide friendships". My response was "Really? Tell that to the German Jews who weren't worried about Hitler's election". She looked at me like I had three heads. I am so grateful for TAFM and this community. It saves costs on therapy.
You are so correct about high-profile people (Springsteen, LeBron, Wilson, Cuban, Swift, et. al.) coming together for one televised stage event with very short speeches interspersed with music, perhaps even a dance or two and slamdunks in a basket. It would be attention getting in ways we haven't yet seen and would drown out a maga rally. It's not too late to pull together such a thing...and send it to the troops overseas. Patriotism, talent, entrepreneurism, truth. Madison Sq. Garden, Carnegie Hall, the DC Mall, all with a shout out to victims of the recent hurricanes. The team approach might get more high rollers to participate.
Thank you TC for a truly inspiring post to help us realize again how important it is for us to do our part to save our country and VOTE to keep our democracy and bring us through the division that the MAGA party is trying sell us.
You have a gift Tom, I know you are aware of it, you exercise it regularly. I have been reading you for several years now, this was one of your very best, my hats off my brother, you eloquently stated exactly how I feel. This election should be easy, I hope I'm right in that assessment, you are either for our Constitution or against it, there is no middle ground.
"In 2024, a decision to put patriotism ahead of partisanship is not something to merely aspire to." Nor is it difficult in the near term. All one must do is turn up on or before Nov. 5 and cast a vote. One need not advertise who one is voting for, argue about it with Uncle Whoever, bicker about it with the neighbors, or do anything else that will disrupt one's life. Just go vote for Harris and the other Democrats on the ballot and, if you're in one of THOSE 10 states, figure out how to vote for the Amendment option that will add the freedom to make one's own medical choices to the state Constitution (in MO, it's YES on 3). The hardest part will be the time it takes; our ballot will be two sides of 8 1/2 x 14 paper, printed to order for each voter.
As you correctly point out, the hard part will be after the election whether the failed insurrectionist party reacts with violence or not. We'll have to keep at it after a too brief break for celebration and make sure that our laws and institutions are strengthened so that this doesn't happen again 2 years, 4 years hence and indefinitely into the future. If we haven't taught our kids everything we should have, we must at least make sure we teach them the essentials of positive citizenship and the need for constant engagement.
My earliest predecessor in this country was Roger Conant whose name continues in the family and who is memorialized in bronze in Salem, MA. Beyond that, I've not done the research to establish any contribution that we may have made to getting where we are today.
My Dad's family was very attached to gemology; through my Dad's paternal side, I am descended from Alfred the Great. The notation is that someone from that extension of the family "married Tom House, a farmer, in Upstate New York, in 1791."
Placing the current moment in historical perspective, and including the personal aspect, makes this piece particularly powerful. Thank you for this stirring essay.
We do need to be reminded of the historical sweep of our democracy lest we bog down in individual issues that blind us to the bigger picture. This would be especially helpful to those who have gone apoplectic over Trump's version of immigration.
Thank you, TC. We are really down to the wire right now. Let us hope the energy of all of our brave ancestors comes rushing toward us at this pivotal moment! Things do "rhyme" but I fear that our technology, especially social media, has created a totally new context -- for information/ misinformation -- that outgrows us by the minute!! And just to make things worse in Florida ( as if things could get worse in FL!!) we have Milton bearing down on us! Don`t know which one--election or hurricane-- is causing me the greater anxiety at the moment!!!
One of my Dad’s stories from being the dentist on a troop ship in the Pacific was about being in a typhoon. Wild and scared and all the stuff sliding from one side of a room to the other as the ship rolled!!!!
The anti-immigrant Know Nothings are rejecting their history and the country’s history. When I think of grandparents and grandkids, it is a loving, devoted bond that sticks like glue and is the reason so many sacrifice for their children and grands (up if it has an iota of normalcy). Fast forward a couple of generations and the rungs that have lost the connections to their past, tend to denigrate and deny their ancestry to some extent. Worse, they assume a superior mantle towards some who try to do the same thing that their grandparents did. A cousin told me that her Dad remembered our grandmother speaking German, so she was likely an adult immigrant. Same for many of the anti-immigrant Know Nothings of today. That family bond is not forever. Remember that the next time you hug a grand. One doesn’t have to revere them or what they did, but the recognition of a common humanity might spur a kind thought. Genealogy research might even stir a little admiration. America is not the only country that is made up of people who came from elsewhere. Anybody living out of Africa immigrated from somewhere. The years or centuries that may have passed are just a blip on earth’s timeline. We don’t even qualify as a blip. But the actions of hate might leave an ugly scar on our beautiful planet. Reject hate, it’s poison seeps in places that might be unintended.
You are so right, TC. 2024 is the first of many coming skirmishes and battles ahead as the anti-democracy coalitions are legion. It maybe too dramatic, but, nevertheless, at my age, we are at the shoreline and we only have going forward our option. Or, something Churchillian like that. Thanks. Important reminder; everthing is about increments and rebuilding the institutions that protect our hopes and comforts afforded a free people serious about freedom for all of us. Good post today.
It’s often forgotten that Lincoln would have one of the greatest presidents, even if the Civil War had not happened. The Morrill Act establishing universities across the country built the intellectual infrastructure that undergirded the transformation of the American economy into the first in the world. And the Transcontinental Railroad made a continental economy and polity feasible.
Both of which depended for their success on the absence of the reactionary Southern scumball traitors, who had fought against these ideas for years before the war, from Congress. "Southernomics" didn't - then or now - support gub'mint spendin' - for them damfool ideas like railroads and schools. The current iteration of Southernomics wants to get rid of all the government spending for the environment, healthcare and education.
"He was my great-great-grandfather", and you do all that you can to follow in his footsteps. My however-many-great-great-grandfather was Roger Williams. It's interesting how, way back in the 1920's, when religions stayed separate in the United States, my MGM (his descendent) welcomed Jews and Catholics into her home. Of the four of us children, one is married to a Jew, I am married to a Buddhist, one is married to a Lutheran (my parents' religion), and the other, very sadly, is tied up in the evangelic "christian" stuff. Knowing Grandmommy, she'd probably have welcomed him, despite that choice.
So cool,kdsherpa, that Roger Williams is your however-many-great-great grandfather! I’m a native Rhode Islander(Florida now).He was so remarkable and such an important historical figure.Truly revered in RI…and he would be absolutely aghast at what has happened in Florida.
Thanks, Kathy. (I'm a Kathy, too!) I've never been to Rhode Island. Who "revered" him, just out of curiosity?
Well, pretty much everyone I knew who was born and raised in RI, and I believe RI in general. Of course we learned about his founding the RI colony ,fight for separation of church and state and ability to make peace with Narragansett Indians. And of course, it was a different time but I never heard any of my many Catholic friends (RI is VERY catholic) have anything but reverence for Roger Williams.And there are so many things named after him…college,parks, zoo, numerous statues(link is my favorite) and my URI dining hall… I know some even celebrate a Roger William’s Day.
https://www.nps.gov/rowi/learn/historyculture/prospect-park.htm
I knew some superficial things about Roger Williams, but thanks to your reference, I began reading more extensively. He really was an amazing person!
Talk about courage! Interestingly, in our family tree, there is a person related to Roger Williams who married a Wampanoag. (That's my only claim to relationship with the First People. :-) )
The entire state reveres him, there is a wonderful park in Providence named after him and he probably gave that city it's name.
That's amazing! I had no idea. Thanks so much for letting me know, Dick!
Thank you, Tom for a really great and much needed post. In this election, as Liz Cheney intimated in her address, we need to vote as Americans, not as Democrats or Republicans. I want to retain our representative republic. This is why I chose to be an American.
Great letter Tom. Thanks
Diane, all the best with Milton!! Will be hoping you are ok in St. Pete! I am in Orlando.
Thanks Carol. We’ve taken in storm refugees who’ve lost everything. Milton is just an added trauma. Sadly our streets are still full of mountains of debris. We can’t imagine how this latest storm will redistribute the piles we’ve spent days putting on the curb.
I have family and friends your way. They are petrified about this one. Just praying no lives lost! Will be thinking of you all mid week!
Hope you don’t get too much more rain, another danger now.
Yes to all of this. I wish the media from broadcast to cable would speak out like they were speaking to children (apologies to children) - Trump is dangerous!! ABC News has done a relatively good job, but they need to be more blunt. It frustrates me we know the danger, but the country as a whole is asleep. It's good several groups of Republicans have come out for Harris/Walz in writing, but it would have more impact if ALL of them along with Joyce Vance, Rick Wilson, Jennifer Rubin, et al stood together and held a press conference calling out the dangerous fascist MAGA movement. Instead they all speak from their own platforms you have to subscribe to. I get it. Really. But this is a crisis of the magnitude of Nazi Germany. Over coffee a very intelligent friend who is a Physician's Assistant said to me, "Well, Rita, you can't let politics divide friendships". My response was "Really? Tell that to the German Jews who weren't worried about Hitler's election". She looked at me like I had three heads. I am so grateful for TAFM and this community. It saves costs on therapy.
You are so correct about high-profile people (Springsteen, LeBron, Wilson, Cuban, Swift, et. al.) coming together for one televised stage event with very short speeches interspersed with music, perhaps even a dance or two and slamdunks in a basket. It would be attention getting in ways we haven't yet seen and would drown out a maga rally. It's not too late to pull together such a thing...and send it to the troops overseas. Patriotism, talent, entrepreneurism, truth. Madison Sq. Garden, Carnegie Hall, the DC Mall, all with a shout out to victims of the recent hurricanes. The team approach might get more high rollers to participate.
Just painful; been there too.
Thank you TC for a truly inspiring post to help us realize again how important it is for us to do our part to save our country and VOTE to keep our democracy and bring us through the division that the MAGA party is trying sell us.
You have a gift Tom, I know you are aware of it, you exercise it regularly. I have been reading you for several years now, this was one of your very best, my hats off my brother, you eloquently stated exactly how I feel. This election should be easy, I hope I'm right in that assessment, you are either for our Constitution or against it, there is no middle ground.
Love your GGGF's actions in the real world; carry on Freedom is coming to us all.
"In 2024, a decision to put patriotism ahead of partisanship is not something to merely aspire to." Nor is it difficult in the near term. All one must do is turn up on or before Nov. 5 and cast a vote. One need not advertise who one is voting for, argue about it with Uncle Whoever, bicker about it with the neighbors, or do anything else that will disrupt one's life. Just go vote for Harris and the other Democrats on the ballot and, if you're in one of THOSE 10 states, figure out how to vote for the Amendment option that will add the freedom to make one's own medical choices to the state Constitution (in MO, it's YES on 3). The hardest part will be the time it takes; our ballot will be two sides of 8 1/2 x 14 paper, printed to order for each voter.
As you correctly point out, the hard part will be after the election whether the failed insurrectionist party reacts with violence or not. We'll have to keep at it after a too brief break for celebration and make sure that our laws and institutions are strengthened so that this doesn't happen again 2 years, 4 years hence and indefinitely into the future. If we haven't taught our kids everything we should have, we must at least make sure we teach them the essentials of positive citizenship and the need for constant engagement.
My earliest predecessor in this country was Roger Conant whose name continues in the family and who is memorialized in bronze in Salem, MA. Beyond that, I've not done the research to establish any contribution that we may have made to getting where we are today.
My Dad's family was very attached to gemology; through my Dad's paternal side, I am descended from Alfred the Great. The notation is that someone from that extension of the family "married Tom House, a farmer, in Upstate New York, in 1791."
Yes, quiet Americans are often our truest and most dutiful patriots.
Placing the current moment in historical perspective, and including the personal aspect, makes this piece particularly powerful. Thank you for this stirring essay.
A very "Heather Cox Richardson" moment.
She's an inspiration to us all.
We do need to be reminded of the historical sweep of our democracy lest we bog down in individual issues that blind us to the bigger picture. This would be especially helpful to those who have gone apoplectic over Trump's version of immigration.
Brilliant! A
Magnificent essay and history lesson!
Thank you, TC. We are really down to the wire right now. Let us hope the energy of all of our brave ancestors comes rushing toward us at this pivotal moment! Things do "rhyme" but I fear that our technology, especially social media, has created a totally new context -- for information/ misinformation -- that outgrows us by the minute!! And just to make things worse in Florida ( as if things could get worse in FL!!) we have Milton bearing down on us! Don`t know which one--election or hurricane-- is causing me the greater anxiety at the moment!!!
Yeah, good luck with that. The storm track looks like it will go over central FL.
Yes, we are going to get clobbered, one way or another! Getting ready to lose power for extended time. I hate hurricane season.
I went through six typhoons in the Navy and didn't like any of them.
One of my Dad’s stories from being the dentist on a troop ship in the Pacific was about being in a typhoon. Wild and scared and all the stuff sliding from one side of a room to the other as the ship rolled!!!!
Yes, and the old USS Rustbucket I was on was top-heavy. 16,000 tons and rolled like a destroyer.
A very good friend was a helmsman on a destroyer during our war, his stories about the waves during those typhoons were indeed sobering. 🙏🏻
The anti-immigrant Know Nothings are rejecting their history and the country’s history. When I think of grandparents and grandkids, it is a loving, devoted bond that sticks like glue and is the reason so many sacrifice for their children and grands (up if it has an iota of normalcy). Fast forward a couple of generations and the rungs that have lost the connections to their past, tend to denigrate and deny their ancestry to some extent. Worse, they assume a superior mantle towards some who try to do the same thing that their grandparents did. A cousin told me that her Dad remembered our grandmother speaking German, so she was likely an adult immigrant. Same for many of the anti-immigrant Know Nothings of today. That family bond is not forever. Remember that the next time you hug a grand. One doesn’t have to revere them or what they did, but the recognition of a common humanity might spur a kind thought. Genealogy research might even stir a little admiration. America is not the only country that is made up of people who came from elsewhere. Anybody living out of Africa immigrated from somewhere. The years or centuries that may have passed are just a blip on earth’s timeline. We don’t even qualify as a blip. But the actions of hate might leave an ugly scar on our beautiful planet. Reject hate, it’s poison seeps in places that might be unintended.
You are so right, TC. 2024 is the first of many coming skirmishes and battles ahead as the anti-democracy coalitions are legion. It maybe too dramatic, but, nevertheless, at my age, we are at the shoreline and we only have going forward our option. Or, something Churchillian like that. Thanks. Important reminder; everthing is about increments and rebuilding the institutions that protect our hopes and comforts afforded a free people serious about freedom for all of us. Good post today.
Yup, if we can keep it.
It’s often forgotten that Lincoln would have one of the greatest presidents, even if the Civil War had not happened. The Morrill Act establishing universities across the country built the intellectual infrastructure that undergirded the transformation of the American economy into the first in the world. And the Transcontinental Railroad made a continental economy and polity feasible.
Both of which depended for their success on the absence of the reactionary Southern scumball traitors, who had fought against these ideas for years before the war, from Congress. "Southernomics" didn't - then or now - support gub'mint spendin' - for them damfool ideas like railroads and schools. The current iteration of Southernomics wants to get rid of all the government spending for the environment, healthcare and education.
Brain parasites. Ask RFKjr. who knows they are a thing.
It's almost like the corporate media is in cahoots with fpotus or some such.
Almost??
Tongue firmly in cheek.