July 4, 2025
We're battered, tattered, but still here . . .
Well, here we are. 249 years after the signing of the Declaration of Independence, our so-called leaders have just passed a spending bill that effectively hands the Executive Branch the funding and the authority to create a secret police and end whatever was left of our standing as a beacon of liberty to the rest of the world.
I’ve read a lot of posts on social media the last couple of days from people who are saying they don’t feel like they can celebrate today. And I understand that. I really do.
I started the Resistance News Digest four months ago today, although I’d been sending out its predecessor emails for several weeks before that. I began it because some of my family knew that I followed the news, and they knew they needed to stay informed - but sorting through all the chaos and disinformation and noise to make sense of it all was more than they could handle. They asked me if I could help, and I thought I could . . . and then other people asked if I could send them the same emails, and. . . well, as I said up top, here we are.
But it takes a toll. I can’t pretend it doesn’t.
I woke up this morning to a gray sky and a grayer mood. I end each of these Digests by saying “Stay strong, stay loud, and never, ever give up!” I say it, because I need to hear that just as much as anyone else. It’s not easy now, and I believe it’s going to get worse before it gets better. I also believe that it WILL get better - but not quickly. We’re going to have a lot more gray days ahead that we have to get through somehow.
Then I read this. . . and even though Andy Borowitz primarily writes political satire, this is as serious as a lightening strike, and it was just the reminder I needed.
It’s on us now, folks. No one else is going to save us, we have to do it ourselves.
A post the other day on Facebook from a very thoughtful writer, James Greenberg, was discussing the impacts of the budget bill cuts to healthcare.
I’ve lived long enough to know that health isn’t just a personal matter. It’s structural. It’s political. And when Washington retreats, the burden shifts—not evenly, but predictably—to those already stretched thin. I’ve seen this coming, so I’ve been thinking about what options there are not just for myself but for everyone.
The good news is the story doesn’t end in D.C.
Across the country, state governments are facing a choice: whether to absorb the damage or reinforce it. Whether to treat healthcare as a shared responsibility or let it unravel, one eligibility rule at a time.
Some states are already preparing their answer.
Across the country, state governments are facing a choice: whether to absorb the damage or reinforce it. Whether to treat healthcare as a shared responsibility or let it unravel, one eligibility rule at a time.
Some states are already preparing their answer. . .
He goes on:
This isn’t just about policy. It’s about the systems that organize risk, distribute vulnerability, and determine who gets to survive a health crisis with dignity—and who doesn’t. If the federal government abdicates that responsibility, the vacuum doesn’t stay empty. It gets filled by patchwork systems, fragmented care, and deepening inequity.
That’s why the states matter now more than ever.
States can regulate insurance plans in their markets. They can ban junk plans, require coverage for preexisting conditions, mandate essential benefits, and cap out-of-pocket costs. They can expand Medicaid using their own funds, build reinsurance programs to stabilize premiums, and create public options designed to serve—not skim—the marketplace.
Yes, it takes money. And yes, it takes political will. But not every fight has to wait for federal permission. Minnesota didn’t. It’s using its existing public program—MinnesotaCare—as a platform for a state-based alternative to private insurance. New Mexico is using a surtax on health insurance premiums to fund expanded coverage. Even Maine is exploring how to use state funds to shield residents from the worst fallout of federal retreat.
These aren’t theoretical fixes. They’re happening now. And they expose a deeper truth: while health is often framed as a federal issue, the power to protect people has always been layered, distributed, and contested.
The question is whether we organize around that power—or surrender it.
In anthropology, we often study how systems break. But we also study how people adapt. In moments of crisis, informal networks, mutual aid, and local institutions often step in where the formal state has failed. In the U.S., we have formal state governments with the capacity—if not always the will—to act. That makes this a question not of possibility, but of politics.
So here’s what we should be asking now, in every statehouse: Will you protect people with cancer, asthma, or diabetes from being priced out of care? Will you fund public alternatives where private markets fail? Will you treat health as a right—or as a risk to be privatized?
And if the answer is no, we should be equally prepared to act from below: through coalitions, county health boards, city programs, labor unions, and public health alliances that treat care as a form of solidarity, not just service.
The federal rollback was designed to create a vacuum. Let’s not leave it empty.
It’s already happening. States around the country are already putting plans into effect to deal with the massive cuts in funding to Medicaid and other safety-net programs. However, most governors are saying that their states cannot absorb the cuts entirely, and there will definitely be impacts to programs. For example, in Pennsylvania, Gov. Josh Shapiro has said he is not sure that SNAP will be able to continue.
Misc. Short Takes:
Alejandro Orellana of East Los Angeles has been indicted by a federal grand jury for conspiracy to aid and abet civil disorders by distributing face shields, water, and other supplies to protestors in Los Angeles. Orellana, a Marine veteran, is a member of Centro CSO, a Chicano-led civil rights organization with a distinguished history. The indictment says that protestors who received face shields then went on to “commit acts to obstruct, impede, and interfere with law enforcement officers.” Orellana’s attorneys claim that distributing the shields was a defensive action intended to protect protestors, and he is pleading not guilty.
200 Marines have been deployed to active duty in Florida to support ICE activities, although according to a statement from U.S. Northern Command “they are specifically prohibited from direct contact with individuals in ICE custody or involvement in any aspect of the custody chain.”
The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) placed around 140 employees on leave after they signed a “declaration of dissent” in which they said the agency was no longer living up to its mission. The EPA said they were “illegally undermining” the agency, and in the email notifying the employees of the action they made it clear that the leave was “not a disciplinary action.”
Resistance Actions
Of course you should continue to protest - just because we’ve lost the budget battle we still aren’t going to cave in. However, realize that there is a critical difference between protests and resistance.
Protests are intended to send a message of opposition and defiance to those in power, and to signal solidarity among those participating. Protests are, by design, big and public and showy and attention-grabbing.
Resistance is a long-term, strategic effort to undermine the legitimacy of regime in power by building an opposition that has the support of the people. As a post on Facebook noted, “Real resistance movements—every single one—are rooted in communities. They protect. They organize. They serve the people. If the people don’t believe in you, you’re not the resistance. You’re a nut with a gun.” Basically, you need to be part of a real-world, in-person network that helps meet the needs of your neighborhood or congregation or school.
Anything you do that helps you build your connection with others in your community can be the basis of a resistance action:
Organize a Community Emergency Response Training (CERT) session or the equivalent for your neighborhood, or sign up for a CERT course. If there’s a disaster, being able to help one another could mitigate damage and possibly save lives.
Hold a community food drive to help support those who are having their SNAP benefits cut - and brainstorm ways to keep it going.
See if your local community college offers a Community Education program. These are short, fee-based courses that are not part of a regular curriculum and which are often taught by members of the community with expertise in a given area. If you have skill in an area such as food preserving, computers, etc., maybe you teach it to others. If you want to learn a new skill, these sessions are a great place to start.
Start a “Little Free Library” and fill it with books that teach about the people and events that so many places are trying to remove from libraries and classrooms - the Civil Rights movement, Reconstruction, the history of enslavement in the U.S., and so on.
Set up a “neighborhood watch” program and get to know others on your block. Know who lives alone, who has small children or someone with a disability in their household, who needs a translator. Have a call list so you can mobilize quickly if there is a need - a major gas leak, a bad storm, an ICE raid nearby, etc.
Even just going for regular walks around your neighborhood and talking with people can be an act of resistance.
These are all just ideas. The key is to start building your own “safety net” in a time when we are no longer able to rely on the government to do it.
That’s all for tonight. Try to do something fun this weekend! Taking care of your own mental state is also an important act of resistance. My daughter and I are watching Hamilton together - “I’m not throwing away my shot!” seemed appropriate for our situation right now.
Whatever you decide to do, remember to stay strong, stay loud, and never, ever give up!