The hopeful season
- Dec 25, 2025
- 2 min read
“These are the times that try men’s souls.”
So wrote Thomas Paine in December (1776, and Heather Cox Richardson recalled those words in her essay a few days ago, on December 18).
“The summer soldier and the sunshine patriot will, in this crisis, shrink from the service of their country; but he that stands by it now, deserves the love and thanks of man and woman.”
Now, with the holidays upon us, hope for democracy occupies my mind.
First, I hope we all are taking a deserved break from the political crisis of the day. In peaceful settings, in warm moments with families and friends, we can rejuvenate.
Second, we who have defended democracy and stood up to the Trump administration’s egregious stomping on civil rights this year, in any big or small way—we have helped check the president’s power, alongside the lower courts. And soon, hopefully, more of the congress will catch up. There are signs that more and more people and institutions are joining us in pushing back, and that the 2026 midterms will reward our continued hard work.
“…I turn with the warm ardor of a friend to those who have nobly stood, and are yet determined to stand the matter out: I call not upon a few, but upon all: not on this state or that state, but on every state: up and help us; lay your shoulders to the wheel; better have too much force than too little, when so great an object is at stake.”
Third, as we turn to face 2026, Paine’s words still apply to our fight for democracy.
“Let it be told to the future world, that in the depth of winter, when nothing but hope and virtue could survive, that the city and the country, alarmed at one common danger, came forth to meet and to repulse it.”
“We have every opportunity and every encouragement before us, to form the noblest purest constitution on the face of the earth. We have it in our power to begin the world over again.”
What could be more hopeful than that?
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