A little while ago, I was on the phone with my daughter who lives in south Florida. She had just returned from the “March for Our Lives.” She is 41 years old. With her were my two granddaughters, ages 12 and 10. I am proud of my youngest child, and doubly proud that she showed her daughters what it means to be an American.

Protesting is patriotic. The first amendment was considered the most important part of the Constitution by our founding fathers. Today, millions of Americans are uniting with the students of Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School and demanding that our government take action and protect all Americans from escalating gun violence in our nation.

Marches are expected in more than 800 cities in America and around the world. Estimates are that the number in Washington will reach a million participants.

Every speaker has denounced the NRA and are promising to remove any politician from office who takes campaign contributions from the gun lobby. This is not about the second amendment; we all support it. This is about the fact that our kindergarten students now learn to protect themselves from gun violence before they learn to read. This is the height of ignorance. When politicians refuse to represent your needs and wishes, they must be sent home and replaced with younger men and women who care about the future of our nation.

I admit that although I am nearly 72 years of age, I remain emotional during certain situations. I have been watching the protests in Washington, and shedding a few tears as these beautiful young women and men speak so eloquently and passionately. They are the future, and they are leading us.

Their battle is just. It is our government and older Americans who have placed their agendas ahead of our nation’s future for far too many years.

I am reminded of my own generation who marched in the streets asking a single question in the 1960’s and 1970’s. We asked ‘why we were fighting a war on the other side of the world.’ To this day no one has given us a viable explanation.

On November 9, 2016, I lost all hope for one day. I believed then as I do now that we deserve to have a patriotic American leading our nation. Trump is neither. He will not listen to our younger citizens. He will continue to care for himself, and other wealthy Americans.

Today hope lives again. These young men and women will vote; they will not stay home. Not all of them will be 18 by November, but most of them will be in 2020. Their chant of “vote them out,” will be heard. Any politician who stands with the NRA will lose their lives of luxury and privilege.

The Republican Party is owned by special interests; that includes gun manufacturers and gun sellers who are represented by a lobby which calls itself the ‘NRA.’ GOP politicians must join the people or be voted out of office.

Op-ed by James Turnage

SOURCE

My five novels are available on the free Amazon Kindle app; CLICK HERE