Who says the republicans have to "give in?" Did Reagan just meekly "give in" when he made various compromises with the democrats in order to achieve some of his more important goals? Did Reagan just meekly "give in" when he compromised on the issue of taxes by agreeing to an increase in the social security payroll tax in order to achieve what he felt was the important goal of saving social security?
In normal times, political compromise is sometimes called for in the interest of obtaining something of value in return.
We do not live in normal times.
In these times, Republicans
never obtain
anything of value in return for their (inevitable) concessions. Instead, they are given unenforceable promises, and then mercilessly maligned as unprincipled. And the next time: Democrats, knowing they have an easy mark, double down on their demands.
Today's Democrats do not argue or negotiate in good faith. Their object is not smart governance, or even merely protecting the interests of their member constituent groups.
Instead, their object is the radical transformation of America into a socialist welfare state, and as a necessary means to that end, the destruction of the opposition. Not its electoral defeat, mind you: its
destruction.
Today's Democrats are radical Marxist utopians who have learned how, in the words of one of their leading lights and Obama loyalist Van Jones, how to "drop the radical pose for the radical ends". They pretend to be old-school Democrats, but they are not.
"Old school" Democrats, such as Hubert Humphrey, Carl Albert, Sam Rayburn, Tom Foley, Tip O'Neill - all were liberals who yet loved America as it essentially was, even while advocating for social change and equal justice.
Today's Democrat leaders - Nancy Pelosi, Harry Reid, Dick Durbin, Chuck Schumer, Patrick Leahy , and of course, Barack Obama - all are
far to the Left of their predecessors; their legislative and executive staffs even more so.
They know that the Progressive movement now controls all of America's vital social institutions, most importantly for their purposes, the mainstream news media. With control of the news and entertainment media, the academic world, and the Federal bureaucracies, the Left has no fear in pursuing a scorched-Earth program against Republicans, and it does so on a daily basis.
When the answer to virtually every utterance by a GOP member is some variant of "racist, sexist, bigot, homophobe, Tea Party, fundamentalist, gun nut", you must at least begin to consider the possibility that negotiation with such people is pointless at best, and dangerous at worst.