It’s been a long time since I’ve felt so absolutely convinced that the future of our country will be secure. The reason is our youth … the youth who have been maligned, criticized and bullied by the adult world as though there were no good kids left.

I’ve always understood the kids were taking an unfair hit from the superwise adult world. But their time has come to fight that disrespect. Wow, am I proud how they are standing up!

While the president and members of Congress have been bought and paid for by the National Rifle Association, these kids have seen the wolf in sheep’s clothing. Now they are on a political hunt.

As much as I deplore the NRA’s leadership, you can’t fault a company or a trade association for legally pushing its products. You can’t really fault them for making huge political contributions to their political allies.

What the NRA does is all about business — dirty business, to be sure, but entirely legal. What our morally bankrupt politicians do next, though, is an entirely different matter.

“Citizens United v. Federal Elections Commission” held that political spending is a form of protected speech under the First Amendment. The ruling stated the government may not keep corporations or unions from spending money to support or denounce individual candidates in elections.

The case struck down a controlling federal law when it was decided in December. In so doing, it opened our system to more corruption and graft than even God himself (herself) could anticipate.

We are human beings. Humans vote. The damned corporations are neither human nor can they vote … but they sure can buy votes now on behalf of their human owners. Once the spending floodgates were opened, the greedy politicians parked their morals, their consciences and their values by the side of the road. They were literally purchased with corporate contributions to do their corporate masters’ bidding.

To allow a small number of well-funded entities to in effect buy politicians is wrong. It’s time for Congress to revisit this matter. It needs to pass a law to restore sanity, and then to comply with it. Present laws can be rewritten to comply with the court’s legal objections. But God forbid anyone in Congress to dare do that!

We are the only country in the world that witnesses consistent attacks on our own children. Gutless leaders like Speaker of the House Paul Ryan tell us after each attack that we shouldn’t overreact, we shouldn’t have a knee-jerk reaction. What he has meant and what has happened every single time is that Congress just doesn’t act at all.

In recent days, the president has used the latest massacre as an opportunity to grin at the camera and give a thumbs up. Thumbs up to the murder of more of our own children!

But that’s enough of the negative comment today. Now, on to the positive. Across the nation, children — some of them old enough to vote, and many more who will be by the midterm elections this fall — have said ENOUGH! They say, “You’re killing us, and no one is doing anything but talk.”

They are right. In 1968, the youth movement eventually caused us to withdraw from Vietnam, where some of our finest were being killed on foreign soil. Now our children are being killed right here at home — and instead of withdrawing military weapons from the scene, the adults argue about how they have a right to them. Sooner or later in the absence of political action, today’s young people will find a way to stop the madness. They will shame the politicians into doing what is right.

The U.S. Supreme Court has twice in the last two years upheld the right of the states to regulate weapons of mass destruction. The two states involved that won these cases have done just that.

The Constitution reserves the right to weapons and to a well-regulated militia! We have the Reserves and the National Guard. They are the ones who by law are entitled to have the weapons of death.

God bless the youth of our nation today. They know what needs to be done. They aren’t waiting on the promises of a president who can’t lead and a Congress that can only follow. Now, if only parents nationwide can follow their example. The issue is life and death, and the time for action is now! Amen.