We did not join in the cheers and whistles that greeted the announcement in Washington that House Speaker John Boehner had decided to resign from Congress at the end of October. And we did not agree with the conservative firebrand who sarcastically said that Pope Francis had gone to the Speaker’s office to perform his first exorcism!

Still, we share the sense of deepest disappointment felt by so many grassroots activists. We have the largest Republican Majority since the days of Calvin Coolidge. Many of us worked so hard to achieve the victory in the 2014 elections. We have felt betrayed by the slim achievement of this Congress. Pollsters are telling us that 62% of all Republicans feel betrayed as well. A lot of us are remembering Peggy Lee’s plaintive song:

“Is that all there is?”

Speaker Boehner yet has a great opportunity to go out on a very high note. He could lead the fractious GOP majority in the House to achieving an historic change in the endless back-and-forth blame game playing in Washington.

This might still be John Boehner’s finest hour. He could leave Congress on a high note of principle -- and hard-earned success!

Speaker Boehner and the House Majority should send the Senate a Continuing Resolution that takes away the millions in tax dollars that Planned Parenthood receives from the federal government. Then the House of Representatives, as the People’s body, should demand the Senate hold firm, as well.

Speaker John Boehner should then join with Sen. Mitch McConnell in ceremonially signing transmittal messages for this bill that keeps the government open. Both congressional leaders should then literally roll up their sleeves. They should be joined by supporting Senators and Representatives.

The entire party should walk the Continuing Resolution down Pennsylvania Avenue and place it in the hands of the guards at the White House gates. We could call it “A Parade of Appropriations.”

Boehner and McConnell should go live in a national broadcast to tell Americans that the Majority in Congress has provided all the monies necessary to keep the federal functioning. Then, they should tell Americans that only President Obama can close the government. Under out system, Congress has the power of the purse. Congress can cut off funds that deeply offend the consciences of most Americans.

If President Obama carries out his threat to veto any Continuing Resolution that takes even one dollar away from Planned Parenthood, then the American people will know who shut down the government. And they will know that he did so because he is an abortion extremist. He has shackled himself to this bloody engine of destruction.

We need this national civics lesson. So long as Congress passes a Continuing Resolution, the government will be funded. Planned Parenthood, this evil enterprise, has been caught, red-handed, on camera, haggling over hearts, lungs, and livers of their little victims. It’s bad enough that Planned Parenthood kills eight hundred unborn children every day, but now we learn that their minions are hawking the murdered children’s organs to the highest bidder.

This heinous story will rank, must rank, with the monstrous evils of the Atlantic Slave Trade, the Holocaust, and the Gulag. We are talking about the deaths of millions of innocents and the scavenging for their organs for sale.

We should be demanding that every Member of Congress, whether pro-life or pro-choice, whether Democrat, Republican, or Independent, must answer this question: Have you seen the Planned Parenthood videos posted online by the Center for Medical Progress?

Even some Republican members of Congress are getting it wrong. These hand-wringing Members are singing from the liberal media songbook. So long as Republican Members confuse Americans by saying they are ones who favor or don’t favor shutting down the government, citizens at the local level will continue to have sand thrown in their eyes by the media.

If Congress provides the money to run the government, then President Obama must bear the onus of shutting down the government. And he can do this only by vetoing the spending bill. It’s like the old Smokey the Bear public service ads: “Only YOU can prevent forest fires,” Smokey said. Well, Mr. President: Only YOU can shut down the government!

Maybe we should give all Members of Congress a homework assignment: Watch this video on how a bill becomes a law!

If John Boehner accepts the idea of a Parade of Appropriations, he can use the last days of his Speakership for good. It’s not too late.

Blackwell and Morrison are veteran pro-life activists and writers in Washington, DC.