Democrats seem to be furious that eight senators “caved” and ended the shutdown. I’m not upset about what they did. The people who bore the cost of the shutdown were primarily the poor and those employees forced to work without pay.

Shutdowns usually boomerang on the party that initiates them and the Democrats were fortunate that it did not happen this time, at least not yet. The benefit to the party was that the cost of health care insurance became raised and should remain a major influence in the mid-term elections next year. That has to make Republicans nervous.

The MAGA crowd is not averse to others’ suffering. I think Trump and company would have continued to hurt vulnerable Americans indefinitely. There certainly was no guarantee that holding out longer would change the result.

The fact that so many Democrats are willing to continue this fight is evidence that the party is still out of touch with the people they claim to defend. The 2024 election showed that prioritizing social issues over economic issues of the poor and lower middle-class is a bad strategy. People clamoring for “continuing the fight” are willing to endure disrupted air travel during the holidays, but what about the people who, without food stamps, will suffer hunger while the more fortunate eat at an upscale airport restaurant while waiting for a different flight?

No, the Democratic senators who agreed to end the shut-down did the right thing. They have their priorities straight. And the rest of the anti-MAGA movement needs to understand the way to “fight” is non-violent protest and above all, bringing that pent-up frustration to the ballot box.