Dear media,
It has come to my attention that you are confused about the difference between negotiating and hostage-taking in the context of politics. You appear to be under the mistaken impression that there is a failure to negotiate and compromise on both sides of the aisle.
Please refer to this short and simple guide in order to avoid making the same mistake going forward.
Negotiating:
"I want A. You want B. I'll help you pass B if you help me pass A."
Also negotiating:
"I want A. You don't want A. You want B. I don't want B. Let's work together to write versions of A and B that we can both tolerate. We'll pass them together to make sure they both get votes." Hostage-taking:
"Give me A or the entire country gets hurt."
Hostage-taking is a terrorist tactic. As any law enforcement or military decision maker could tell you, it's a bad idea to give a hostage-taker what they want in exchange for the release of the hostage:
- They could still harm the hostage.
- They could still use the hostage to extract further concessions from you.
- Rewarding this behaviour encourages more of it in the future.
So we don't negotiate with terrorists. It really is that simple. In a physical hostage situation, we might offer some promises, but those promises will be less "we agree to your demands" and more "releasing the hostage won't make things worse for you."
The Republicans must release their hostage before any good-faith negotiations can take place.
