On hating America enough to leave

I read this article in which actress Gwyneth Paltrow expressed her disgust with US policy and the President.  She also said she "didn’t want to" live here as a result.

I didn’t start this post to ridicule Paltrow specifically, but instead to express my opinion on people in general who get disgusted with a policy or politician to the point they claim they want to leave the country.

We all remember shortly before the elections how some people were saying they would leave the country if Bush was re-elected.  The number saying they would leave increased big time after the elections.  I don’t understand this mindset.  I had so many problems with the Clinton adminstration that I lost count after a while.  But not one time did I ever consider leaving this country.  Now, I have joked that if Hillary Clinton were ever to be elected president, I would move to Canada but it was just that: a joke.  Most people who talk about moving after an election are serious, even if nine times out of ten they don’t follow through with it, which suggests that it was just hot air – more than anything else – on their part.  But the very idea in and of itself, whether acted on or not, stinks.

If you have an issue with the way this country is being run, you don’t leave it! You stay and try to change it through your votes, your letters to your congressmen, and using other ways to make your opinion known (like utilizing the blogosphere).    Leaving this country because you disagree with the election outcome suggests that you didn’t care that much about it to begin with.  Because of you did, you’d think it was worth living in and fighting for.  Running away suggests that the runner has given up – when in all likelihood the person running away has hardly given the fight their all.

Bottom line: this country is worth fighting for.  If you disagree with the policies of an administration, don’t run away from them.  Stay and fight by using the tools at your disposal (your vote, letters, etc).   I’ll take it even further and say that if you’ve left this country because you don’t care for the policies of the administration, and don’t feel it’s worth battling to change, then I hope you don’t come back.  Great men and women fought and died for your right to express yourself and your displeasure with policies and/or politicians you don’t like.  Exercise your rights and fight for what you think is right.  Don’t abandon your country.  It makes you look like an unworthy American when you do.

(the above references to "you" are a general reference and not directed to anyone specifically)

-Linking up with OTB’s Traffic Jam and Mudville Gazette’s open post

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