(CNN) - The eyes of the world are on the U.S. Congress this week and next. Unlike resolutions about naming a post office, honoring the 2013 World Series champion Boston Red Sox or defunding Obamacare, members of Congress also take votes that test their consciences and prompt them to examine what they believe because the right vote might not be the one that is politically expedient or representative of the current public mood.

Our elected representatives will vote on whether to authorize the president to use military force in Syria, where according to U.S. and British intelligence, the regime of Bashar al-Assad defied an international norm and used sarin gas to murder roughly 1,400 of its own citizens, including more than 400 children.