How much pain?

11/7/2025

Dear Editor:

Just some facts: It’s common knowledge that Democrats are bleeding-heart liberal types.
People with a liberal worldview experience empathy for the suffering of others. Empathy leads to a compassionate response. Compassion motivates generosity, charity, and caregiving. Witnessing suffering in others is stressful for a liberal-minded person.
Questions: So, what is the best way to negotiate with or force Democrats to fall in line? How can they be persuaded to capitulate to the administration’s demands and end the government shutdown?
Answer: The administration and the Republican Congress can take actions (or lack of) that will create a great deal of suffering for the American people. People who are affected by the suffering will blame the Democrats. Democrats don’t want to be the cause of suffering. The Democrats will reach a point where they will no longer be able to stand the discomfort from all the suffering.
How to do it: Withhold SNAP and other nutritional benefits and starve children. Threatening not to pay furloughed federal workers creates severe economic hardship. Threaten to fire layoff federal workers. Allow the Income Home Energy Assistance Program to lapse, which keeps Americans warm in winter. Cruelty is the point and an effective tool.
More Questions: How much suffering can the Democrats stand? At what point will they cave and give up? How much cruelty are they prepared to witness that they could relieve by submitting to the administration’s demands?
Some more facts: People without empathy and compassion currently rule the nation. The suffering and pain of the American people will not affect them. The only way to motivate them is to threaten their power —better yet, extinguish it.
Raymond Dennis
Susquehanna