My Birthday Wish - a swift end to the government shutdown

It's my birthday. Normally I would be working today, but instead I'm home because the basic operations of the federal government have not been authorized for 2014, and many government employees are furloughed.

People are suffering irreparable harm as a result. I personally know of contractor families with no income who will not be held harmless once this impasse is resolved, and shopkeepers in the building where I should be working today - small business people with families to support - whose income has dropped to nothing, because there are no people in the building to serve. This of course, is just a droplet on the tiny, melting tip of the iceberg. It cannot stop soon enough.

I grew up in a Midwest family from farms and small towns. My parents were professionals, minister and teacher, and were considered middle class, though they were just a generation removed from poverty. My grandparents lived and raised their families through the Dust Bowl and the Great Depression. They all believed in education, hard work, self-reliance, and living within your means. They also believed in helping out your neighbors, and in respecting all people, regardless of skin color or cultural differences. They believed you were responsible for your actions, and in the importance of service to the community. They believed in paying taxes, because good government required it, and deplored waste in government. They had strong principles, and also understood that other equally principled people would not always agree with them. They were conservative, in an honest and considerate way that I truly respected.

I share those values with them. Values and principles are important, but true principles are not ossified absolutes – those are the truck of fundamentalism in all forms. True principles form the basis for informed debate, and no single principle is adequate to respond to the demands of our complex, heterogeneous society. The minority, who hold absolutist positions and would threaten all the rest of society just to have their way, must not prevail. Whether from the left or the right, that is a paradigm that does not serve our society.

Compromise is not a failure in our society, it is a requisite for our society to function. Compromise is not giving up your principles, it is applying your principles, with an open mind, to find workable solutions that are acceptable and beneficial to the society as a whole. I have no doubt that the Affordable Care Act has problems that need to be addressed. I also know many people who will benefit from the access to insurance that it provides. It is not a great evil. It is not a just cause to shutter the government or to risk the credit of the Nation.

Principles and compromise are not mutually exclusive concepts. I wouldn't want a leader without principles. Nor would I want a leader with a closed mind who was unwilling to compromise with others who hold different views.

I also grew up understanding that you got one wish for your birthday, so here's mine. It is my sincere wish that Congress will turn away from the present course, fund the government immediately, and reengage in the hard work of responsibly governing our Nation in all its diversity and complexity.