As the time deadline for Congress’s annual budget approaches, it seems more likely that disagreements in Congress will lead to another government shutdown, only two years after the government shutdown of 2013. This year, after videos releasing information of Planned Parenthood selling fetus parts, Congress has been arguing over refunding them. While this issue is one that is important to discuss, many citizens and politicians feel that it is not important enough to keep the government from functioning. If another government shutdown takes place, especially for such a small issue, the citizens, especially those working for the government or that benefit on a daily-basis from the federal government, will be very upset. It is the government’s job to take care of their people, and if they cannot agree and get things done, the people are left unhappy, frustrated, and out of order.
Abraham Lincoln speaks about a similar issue in an 1830 speech. He discusses the reasoning for the citizens becoming frustrated with an ineffective government; one that cannot compromise. Although today we do not have a clear solution to settle the arguments and behavior of an ineffective Congress, Lincoln had ideas about how to create peace and freedom in his day. In his speech, he spoke about how the people need to have a more mature look on the situation and compromise. He stated that humans “were either made to lie dormant, or to become the active agents in the advancement of the noblest cause--that of establishing and maintaining civil and religious liberty.” Perhaps we can take this lesson from Lincoln, and instead of arguing, which will lead to unhappy and uncontrollable citizens, Congress can compromise and get things done.
