(Herald and News, November 8, 2025)

The government shutdown has already furloughed 750,000 workers with the possible denial of backpay. Now, 42 million Americans are being denied SNAP benefits after years of bipartisan giveaways to corporations. Still, Socialists can defend the shutdown. Cutting basic services and jobs is wrong, the fact they are up for debate is worse. The shutdown reveals the injustices of the prevailing order and can also lead to necessary changes.

In terms of civility, the shutdown is a justified “fight” against the overall Trump and MAGA agenda. To deny food and medical care is akin to social violence, what moral society could even consider being “fed” a political “option”? Libertarians and socialists can agree that rewards of labor should be provided through living wages or worker-ownership, and that welfare programs can perpetuate the “insecure worker.” Socialists can use the pressures caused by the shutdown to rally mass action for living wages, worker power, and corporate accountability in exchange for small business and cooperative tax credits.

The loss of benefits and wages can, in the short term, be supplemented by the state and donations. Democrats should take Trump’s offer to end the filibuster, which could encourage greater participation in midterm elections, benefiting progressive candidates. Long term, ending the filibuster could lead to more redistributive, democratic “shocks” to the system. SNAP benefits and health care should not be shamed but considered an investment that more Americans can happily participate.

As MAGA engages in misdirection, Socialists must expose the rot at the center of the capitalist system. Saying with hope and pragmatism, “it is not for lack of effort that ‘life, liberty, and happiness’ are denied to labor, the fault is in our own outdated capitalist system.” Medical care, housing, nutrition, and meaningful work should be constitutional promises we make to one another.

Jonathan Chenjeri

Klamath Falls