Charles Dickens was a gifted writer; as he described the bone-crushing poverty of street children, I could almost see their hope being ground into the dust. A similar poverty was experienced by John Calvin when he became pastor in Geneva in the Fifteenth Century. A series of wars had made Geneva a city of refugees - the masses huddled in the shadows of an already struggling economy. It left a deep mark on Calvin, for he later argued that an economic system must provide opportunity for everyone, not just the powerful. To condemn people to a near subsistence level merely because of their birth was, Calvin wrote, "The unbearable scandal."
 
Calvin did not write as an economist but as a Christian deeply embedded in the scriptures of our faith. In that same tradition, you and I must not allow the ethical impulses of our leaders to be weaker than their political ones. In this election cycle, I pray that our leaders will give thoughtful and specific responses to the 'unbearable scandal' and, if elected, have the courage of their convictions.