Once, not long ago, the U.S. Federal Government knew how to compromise. Sometimes, it was called “horse trading”. It would be something like, “You support this bill, and I will vote for funding for that new infrastructure bill for your state.” In the end, both sides would end up feeling like winners because both sides got something that they wanted--something that they could tell the folks back home about.
Nowadays, we have the Republican Party shutting down the U.S. Government, even though they control the Presidency and have a majority in the House and Senate. Do you want to know why that is? It is because Donald Trump wants something, and he wants to give nothing in return. He could have had $25 Billion for his wall, and he would have also gotten the Dreamers taken care of, something that he claimed that he wanted. But when his base complained that he would be giving Dreamers “amnesty”, he folded like a cheap suit. Now he wants money for his border wall, but is unwilling to give anything in return. Instead, he is willing to punish over 800,000 Federal employees, their families, and perhaps millions of government contractors, and he is betting that their pain will bother Democrats so much that they will give in to his extortion. However, if Democrats give in to this extortion, Republicans will see that extortion works, and in the future, they will do it over and over again.
The framers of the U.S. Constitution wanted compromise. They wanted horse trading. They did not want one party always getting what it wanted because it punished people when it did not get its way. They did not want government by extortion.
This government shutdown is about more than a border wall. It is about the future of our country, and Congressional Democrats cannot allow Government By Extortion to be the new normal any more than Barack Obama could allow it in 2013, when Republicans shut down the Government because they wanted to kill Obamacare but did not like that President Obama had the veto power given to him by the U.S. Constitution. It is terrible that people have to suffer, but if Democrats give in, it will happen again and again, and the suffering of Federal workers will be only just beginning.