What We Must Do While They Scatter

We began this week in Washington, D.C. with a sermon from Bishop Barber inspired by the lepers in ancient Israel who looked at one another in an impossible political situation and said, “We cannot stay here and die.”

In response to the death-dealing politics of their day, they said, “We don’t know how to stop this, but we have to do something.”

It’s an instinct that has been core to moral movements throughout American history. Abolitionists didn’t have a strategy for how to end chattel slavery, but they knew claiming to own other people was wrong, so they got together and said, “We have to do something.”

They published pamphlets. They wrote sermons. They started an Underground Railroad. The established anti-slavery organizations. Moral movements take moral action not because we know our actions will guarantee success, but because we know we forfeit something of who we are if we don’t resist evil.

That’s what the four lepers were doing when they said, “We cannot stay here and die.”

But there’s another piece to the ancient story. Their plan was to present themselves at their enemies’ camp and beg for mercy. But when they got there, they found that their enemies had scattered.

The opponent that seemed so powerful had been overcome by fear.

Though their enemies were threatening to destroy them, those same enemies worried someone else was out to get them. Maybe even someone in their own camp? So they each fled for their lives.

I thought about the scattered and empty camp yesterday when I read the news of the meltdown between Trump and Musk. Here’s something else moral movements know: totalitarianism cannot last because people who are only in it for themselves can never trust the people closest to them.

True, vulnerable people often don’t have the power to strategize their enemies’ defeat. But we can join together, support one another, and act for life anyway. Because however long it might endure, evil can’t last forever. When people abuse power to serve themselves, they don’t only harm the most vulnerable. They also make enemies among those closest to them.

What’s playing out in public between MAGA’s two biggest egos is also true among Republicans in Congress. At our Moral Monday in DC this week, Indivisible’s Ezra Levin made this point well: while Republican leadership is trying to project strength, they are actually very afraid.

What are they afraid of? They don’t want the American people to have time to understand how the massive cuts to Medicaid and SNAP that they propose in this big, ugly bill would impact people we know and love.

They want to call their bill “beautiful” and pretend that it will save American taxpayers money by forcing some guy playing video games in his parents’ basement to go out and get a job. This is a myth. The “work requirements” proposed in the bill did not work when they were tried in Arkansas. They cost thousands of people their health insurance, but they did not increase employment. What’s more, these ineffective “work requirements” only account for a third of the cuts to Medicaid spending in the bill.

They are afraid of even talking about most of what the bill proposes to do.

When House Speaker Mike Johnson says “people will not lose their Medicaid unless they choose to do so,” he is lying. And this is from someone who’s argued that “Thou shalt not lie” should be posted in our public buildings.

Johnson is terrified that, after a career of touting his values and commitment to life, he will have to answer to Sloan Meek—a fellow Christian who does not have the power Johnson has been entrusted with, but understands that this bill Johnson has championed is a direct threat to his life.

The ancient story doesn’t tell us how long the people had to act while their enemies were scattered by their fears. But it does help us to see that the cracks in the golden façade of MAGA’s agenda and this big, ugly bill are an opportunity.

They give us time to tell Sloan’s story.

They give us time to tell 51,000 stories.

According to a letter public health experts sent to the US Senate this week, 51,000 is the number of people who will die next year if the total cuts to Medicaid and the ACA proposed in this bill become law. Here’s their outline of who this bill would kill:

We project that implementation of the retractions outlined in the reconciliation bill would result in more than 42,500 deaths annually. This includes:

1) 11,300 deaths from the loss of Medicaid or Affordable Care Act Marketplace coverage due to 7.7 million people losing coverage.

2) 18,200 deaths due to the loss of Medicaid coverage among 1.38 million low-income Medicare beneficiaries, causing loss of access to low-income prescription drug subsidies.

3) 13,000 deaths among Medicaid enrollees in nursing homes due to the rollback of CMS’ 2024 nursing home minimum staffing rule.

Who do you know whose life would be at risk if they lost their Medicaid or ACA healthcare?

Do you have a parent or grandparent who depends on Medicaid for their inhaler, blood pressure medicine, or insulin?

Do you have a loved one in a nursing home who could be killed by this bill?

The crack in the MAGA façade is high drama, but this isn’t a moment to be fascinated by a fight. This is our opportunity to tell the stories of the people who are crying out for their lives. Please help us share Sloan’s story. And if you know one of the 51,000 people who could die next year, please share their story in the comments below.