As some members of Congress showed they were willing to bring the federal government to the brink of a shutdown, with demands that include deep cuts to services children and families rely on. Once again, some people have accused them of acting like children. Yet even five-year-olds understand that quitting the game and taking the ball home if the other players won’t give you your way is wrong. Refusing to fund the federal government is far from a political game–but a real threat that harms real workers, families, and citizens across the country.
In “Our God Is Marching On!,” his speech on the steps of the Alabama State Capitol at the end of the Selma to Montgomery marches for voting rights, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. urged us to “march on ballot boxes until we send to our city councils, state legislatures, and the United States Congressmen who will not fear to do justly, love mercy, and walk humbly with thy God.” Some of the men and women in Congress right now are failing this test. This is not the leadership we or our children deserve.
How I wish some political leaders did not treat children as just another special interest group–who must get in line to make their case for why their health, safety, and education needs should be met. Is this the best we have to pass on to our children and grandchildren?
Dr. King also urged us to march on ballot boxes until God’s children are able to walk the earth in decency and honor. For that to happen, as he taught us, we need a revolution in values. Fifty-five years ago, another political leader, Senator Robert F. Kennedy, said this to students at the University of Kansas about ,…
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