When elected officials put party loyalty and/or ambition above good policy, it can be harmful to the American people.
One example of this can be found in the recent government shutdown.
In March 2025, U.S. Senate minority leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., resisted the efforts of his party to shut down the government because he said it was the wrong thing to do.
The reaction from many on the left of his party was swift and vicious.
They criticized his leadership, and many called for Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., to run against him when he is up for re-election. (More here: AOC Urged to Primary Chuck Schumer Amid GOP Funding Bill Backlash - Newsweek)
Sen. Schumer got the message.
When faced with another potential shutdown in late September, he decided that he would not support a funding bill that was almost identical to the one he supported earlier in the year. Instead, he put forth demands of Republicans that he knew would be unacceptable. Because Senate rules require 60 votes to pass most bills, this meant that Democrats in the Senate were able to prevent a House-passed funding bill from passing the Senate, resulting in a government shutdown.
Although Schumer and Democrats claimed their stance was aimed at getting Republicans to add money to Obamacare subsidies, Republican leaders claimed this was about holding the federal government hostage for the sake of Schumer's efforts to try to save his Senate career. (Details here: Schumer hopeful Congress can avoid a shutdown but places onus on Republicans and Trump - POLITICO, Schumer’s Shutdown Hurt America. Republicans Are Repairing the Damage. - U.S. Se..., Republicans blame Schumer for shutting down government over AOC primary fears | Fox News)
According to polls, the perception of who was right and who was wrong on the shutdown largely depended on party identification.
A majority of registered Republicans believed their party was correct, and the same was true of registered Democrats regarding their party.
However, the most revealing elements of polling demonstrated that 75% of Americans, regardless of party affiliation, were concerned about the shutdown.
Additionally, polling revealed that people are predominantly dissatisfied with Congress as a whole. Two out of three Americans (68%) believe Democrats are out of touch with the concerns of most people. Although slightly better, 61% of those polled said the same of Republicans. (More: Americans critical of shutdown, steps to expand presidential power | Ipsos)
During the shutdown, all but one Senate Republican consistently voted to end the shutdown, while three Senators who caucus with Democrats John Fetterman, Catherine Cortez Masto, and Angus King – voted with Republicans on multiple occasions to re-open the government.
The shutdown finally ended when five additional Democratic Senators voted to open the government in exchange for a pledge from Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., to hold a vote on Obamacare subsidies, something that Thune had committed to doing multiple times during the shutdown. (Additional details: These Democratic senators voted with Republicans on government funding bill - ABC News)
Since 75% of Americans clearly wanted the shutdown to end, you would think there would be news stories thanking these senators for doing the right thing.
Unfortunately, if you search for stories about them, you are likely to only find negative stories about their betrayal of their voters and their party.
This is a discouraging statement about both the mainstream media and some voters in the Democratic Party.
It's unfortunate that the media only chose to run negative stories about these senators when there were certainly positive stories to be written for doing the right thing to end an unpopular shutdown.
It's also a sad commentary on the voters who criticized these Senators for voting in line with what most Americans wanted.
It should be noted that the Democrats are not alone when it comes to infighting.
The Republicans also experienced conflict between President Trump and Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., recently.
It began during the shutdown when Greene declared that Democrats had a point regarding healthcare, though she said she did not agree with their proposed solutions.
Things ramped up when Greene appeared on left-leaning programs, such as ABC's "The View," and appeared to criticize her party.
The situation further escalated when Greene broke with President Trump on the necessity for Congress to vote to release the Epstein files.
Soon after, Trump announced that he was withdrawing his support for her.
Although Greene and Trump ultimately ended up on the same side of the shutdown and the Epstein files, Ms. Greene recently announced that she was retiring from Congress early next year.
I am sorry to see her go.
Although I don’t know her very well, I did have the opportunity to be interviewed by her and spend some time with her when she came to see me in Beaumont, Texas.
She struck me as someone who is down-to-earth and committed to doing the best job she can to represent the people of her district and America.
In her video address announcing her resignation, she referenced the rift with the President and her frustration with how business is done in Washington, D.C. as the reasons for her resignation. She reminds me of former Senator Joe Manchin, D-W Va., who left politics over similar frustrations with his party.
It's a sad day for all of us when patriots leave politics because they believe their political party represents the problem, rather than the solution.
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Joe from Texas is a family man with children, grandchildren, and great grandchildren. He's experienced tremendous success and lived the American Dream. His beliefs are both straightforward and deeply held. He believes in God, his family, and the United States of America. Read Joe Penland's Reports — More Here.