Summer Soldiers and Sunshine HRC Supporters

There's a scene in "Erin Brockovich" where Julia Roberts, as the title character, says, "That's the kind of thing that pisses me off!"  That is how I felt when I read this passage in the viral Medium entry, "Tough Luck Destroyers of Hillary Clinton: You Won the Battle, You Won’t Win the War."

There is only one interpretation that I can give to this paragraph.

“It got so bad that her supporters had to shrink away in secret Facebook groups, afraid to put bumper stickers on our cars or lawn signs in front of our homes — afraid for our reputations, afraid to be exiled from Coolsville, afraid because we were watching a real live witch hunt. “

When the going got tough, you ran and hid rather than stand and fight.

Especially in the waning days of the campaign, after James Comey's stunning announcement only 11 days before election day, there was increasing concern that we could lose.  Those of us on the social networks front of the campaign received numerous messages during those last days warning that we did not have this sewn up and needed to redouble all efforts in order to reach 270.

Things were nasty those last weeks. Hillary herself, in a final op-ed on November 7 said this.

I know it’s been a long and difficult race. I’ve heard from so many people who are shaken by my opponent’s hateful, divisive rhetoric. One woman wrote to me about her son, Felix, who was adopted from Ethiopia as a baby. Felix is genuinely afraid that if my opponent wins, he’ll be taken from his parents and forced out of the only country he’s ever known. And his story is just one of many.
A lot of what we’ve seen and heard has been distressing, but we’ve also shared proud moments that remind us that we’re a country of fair-minded, big-hearted people. Millions of Americans—Republicans and Democrats alike—have stood up to say we’re better than this. And everywhere I go, I meet people who remind me of the diversity and determination that make this country great.

She knew exactly how vituperative it had become out here in the trenches, encouraged up to fight on, and thanked us for remaining loyally engaged.

The morning after Election Day, Hillary delivered these words.

And to the millions of volunteers, community leaders, activists and union organizers who knocked on doors, talked to neighbors, posted on Facebook, even in secret, private Facebook sites – I want everybody coming out from behind that and make sure your voices are heard going forward.

The emphasis is mine.

When an essay goes viral and implies that "we," as a group, shrank away into secret Facebook groups and were "afraid" to put bumper stickers on our cars I tremble with fury. "We" did not!  We fought it out, as Hillary asked numerous times in those pre-election emails and messages, in public. Her true supporters never shrank away in fear.  We stood with her and for her. I, for one, still do.

“THESE are the times that try men's souls. 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. Tyranny, like hell, is not easily conquered; yet we have this consolation with us, that the harder the conflict, the more glorious the triumph. What we obtain too cheap, we esteem too lightly: it is dearness only that gives every thing its value. Heaven knows how to put a proper price upon its goods; and it would be strange indeed if so celestial an article as FREEDOM should not be highly rated.” ― Thomas Paine, The Crisis