Tuesday night marked the longest that the government has ever been shut down. The Trump Administration has stated that air traffic control will be cut from 40 major airports, only half the federal SNAP benefits have been given out for the month of November, and neither side is coming to the table to try and make a deal. 

The Republicans have the mindset that they do not need to give in: they were given a mandate and they have the majority in the Senate. However, they do not have sixty, and therefore they need Democrats to work with them to reach the sixty senators needed to reopen the government. Yet, Democrats do not want to come to the table. Their base is pressuring them to not make deals with Republicans. Democrats who are more moderate are fearful that any deal they make with Republicans will look weak, and with the 2026 midterm elections coming up, any sign of weakness could lead to a lost seat. However, senators are not looking out for their people.

The Democratic base is pushing hard against the party to not work with the Republicans. They are taking a page from Trump’s playbook: if you hold the line long enough, there will be enough damage done to people that the other side will be forced to make concessions to please their constituents that are being affected. The problem with this strategy is that the only people who end up being hurt are those that do not have a say in government. Yes, the base is pushing for no compromise, but the base that is pushing for this is not the part of the base that is on SNAP or cannot afford to change their flights multiple times if it gets canceled. The elites are calling for no compromise because they have the ability to wait out the shutdown and all the negative ramifications will not fall upon them. The people who are being hurt are a segment of the population that has long had their voices fall upon deaf ears. They do not participate in politics because each time they try to participate, they are told that they do not know what they are talking about, or they do not even have enough money to get into the room. 

The Republicans are not without fault either. They did get a mandate in the 2024 election, yet if the 2025 results in New York City, New Jersey, California, and Virginia show anything, it is a giant disapproval for the way the Republicans are running the government. There have been many reports that Republican leadership is not talking to Democratic leadership because they do not feel like they should be the party that needs to bend the knee since they have the House, Senate, White House, and Supreme Court. Yet, they are in the same situation as the Democrats. Their constituents are being hurt by this shutdown because the lack of federal support does not discriminate, no matter if you are in a red or blue city. These politicians are sitting in their offices in Washington and not making moves because they are too vain and singularly focused to come to the table and talk to the other side and make concessions where needed.

This is the definition of the uniparty. No matter which side these politicians are on, they are working for themselves and they are not working for the people who put them in their position. This starts at the top; throughout President Trump’s terms he has been adamant about villainizing Democrats. If the leader of the party is continuously saying that the other side is the enemy, there is no motivation to want to work with them. 

Our nation was created with the idea that the people we elect will represent the people and put our interests before theirs. We elect them to Washington because we believe that they can figure out what is best for us with the resources at their disposal. However, this is not what we are seeing in practice. The people do not want to see the government shutdown. We want a federal government that will work for us, not one that will stop working because they cannot agree with each other. 

There is no end in sight to this shutdown, and it is unlikely that this will be the only shutdown in the foreseeable future. This is a lesson to the next generation. Our nation is at the point where we are so divided we cannot talk to each other: friendships are broken, people are killed, and government action is stopped because we cannot talk to people who disagree with us. We need the next generation to start talking to each other. Tackle issues that make you uncomfortable and respect people because they have different opinions. The people who are currently in office are not making the change, so we must be the ones to do it. Young people need to engage in civil discourse, and we need to elect people who will talk to others on the opposite side. America is only a strong nation when we take our differences and make each other better because of them instead of tearing each other down for them. There is hope for the next generation, but that hope only goes as far as the outstretched hand that will reach across the aisle and start a conversation.