Resolving the government shutdown

Approaching day 25 of the federal government shutdown. The impasse between the President and Congressional Democrats and Republicans shows no sign of being resolved. Other than reciting their respective talking points and blaming the other, there’s no dialog, no attempt to seek common ground.

While this political polemic plays before the cable news channels, some 800,000 federal employees are either furloughed or forced to work, in neither case being paid. While the President mocks opposition to a $5.7 billion contribution to a concrete, steel, or peach wall — whatever the Democrats want to call it, he says — people’s live are being damaged irreparably. This childish display of partisanship at the expense of so many dedicated federal employees with few options reflects a callous disrespect for each of them, their families, and the American people our President and Congress were elected to serve.

This political arm wrestle is not justified considering the trauma inflicted on so many lives. Ordering hamburgers delivered to the White House is a gratuitous mockery of the financial deprivation and anxiety faced by so many, mere pawns caught in the middle of this Machiavellian madness.

On behalf of the American people and our collective wisdom and compassion, I move we call the Pope, Desmond Tutu, the Dalai Lama, or another respected religious leader to convene the President, Vice President, leaders of both political parties in the Senate and House for mediation at Camp David — without cell phones and far away from the cable news cameras. They are not allowed to return to Washington until they have reached an agreement to reopen the government and developed a covenant for working together respectfully during the next two years.

Until the government reopens, none of them or their families are allowed to pay any personal bills or spend any money, so they experience inconvenience, if not the full financial stress they have inflicted on undeserving federal workers.