Refuse to Yield

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Republicans could end this shutdown any time they want — 51 votes to change the rules, end the filibuster, and reopen the government.

So why don’t they?

Because this fight isn’t about the budget. It’s about forcing the Democrats to lose. They win when we surrender. “Owning the libs” isn’t a sideshow — it’s the strategy. They know that if Democratic leaders back down, they’ll drain the energy from organizing on the left. They know the pain that their policies will cause America and they need our complicity to share the blame. They need both sides to share the blame — for voters to believe that ‘both parties are the same.” And if we give them our votes to end the shutdown, they’ll be right.

This shutdown is part of the Republican electoral strategy. They’re not just gaming the midterms with redistricting grabs. They’re running a psychological war operation against the American left.

Like the destruction of the White House East Wing, they want to tear down the American left wing. But they cannot win without our consent — and they crave that consent.

They need us to believe they’re too big, too ruthless, too inevitable.

They need us to give up.

Don’t let them. Once done, it cannot be undone. This isn’t just politics — it’s moral survival.

This moment is existential. If “liberty and justice for all” is to mean anything, we cannot surrender. We cannot lose this shutdown fight. America will not stand if we fail this moment.

We must not compromise. We must not negotiate. Some things must be nonnegotiable.

When voters say our message is muddled, what they mean is: they don’t know what principles we hold so dear that we refuse to bend. What will we fight for?

Right now, we are a party defined by half-steps. Too often, we settle. We aimed for “healthcare reform” and got “health insurance reform.” We watched Republicans steal a Supreme Court seat. We complained about rules. We whined about broken norms. But we didn’t fight.

In the eyes of voters, we never fight. We compromise. We negotiate.

We cave.

But this moment — right now — is our test. America has to know that Trumpism is not inevitable. We have to believe that goodness and mercy can still win. Americans need to see that we can restore our nation to the principles we have never fully achieved but have always hungered for.

We need Democrats to stand and not falter. Democrats say we stand for the people.

Now it’s time to prove it — and fight like it.

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