Our representatives are supposed to keep the government running — it’s their main duty. Yet, time and time again, they’ve fallen short. Worse, instead of shouldering the blame like responsible adults, they point fingers — across the aisle and inside their own parties.

Legislators seem to have forgotten an important part of what it means to hold an elected office. It isn’t all benefits and a salaried position.

As students, lawmakers already have asked us to make sacrifices for the greater good. For all intents and purposes, the Michigan Promise Scholarship is dead and, to add insult to injury, $60 million of financial aid is slated to be cut from the budget.

Fine. We all have to make sacrifices. We don’t want to, but times are tough. If it is absolutely necessary to cut some things now so the state can have a chance later, we’ll do it.

The State News would like to ask the House to embrace the same concept.

We understand they need to represent the interests of their constituents. We know it’s hard to worry about anything except re-election. These things aren’t lost on us.

However, when the chips are down, they’re supposed to follow through on the implicit promise they’ve made to keep the government running.

Yes, different constituencies mean there will be factions and interests in direct opposition to each other.

Part of governing is compromise. Put another way, part of governing is sacrifice. Sometimes, we have to give up something to move forward. And believe us when we say, “We need to move forward.”

Without a budget, the state loses services such as police and fire. State employees can’t work and therefore can’t be paid.

The point is, a government shutdown is not an arbitrary thing. Real people are affected.

Representatives need to exercise the judgment we thought they had when we voted for them. In a time of crisis — when public services and jobs hang in the balance — they need to put aside partisan politics and focus on the task at hand.

Here’s a simple solution: If, as the continuing resolution suggests, 30 days of budget negotiation is what it takes to keep the government from shutting down, we suggest using those days before the deadline.

This is like dealing with a spoiled college student.

Parents are supposed to cut off the impetuous child so he or she can understand actions have consequences. Our child — the state Legislature — needs to account for the salaries we pay its members and the benefits they enjoy at our expense.

Whether we do it through votes, protests or recalls, we need to make legislators realize their pettiness will not be tolerated.

To paraphrase an old adage, “This hurts us more than it hurts them.”