America: Love it, or Leave it

Vincent J. Curtis

19 July 2019


The sentiment: ‘America; love it or leave it’ has been around since the founding of the country, even before the establishment of the Republic.  Southern Ontario – Quebec as it was known in 1784 – was settled by British Empire Loyalists.  The Loyalists were Americans who disagreed with the American Revolution and supported Britain.  When the revolution succeeded, the Loyalist left America.  However much they may have loved their homes, they left America on account of political differences.

And let’s not forget the Mohawks.  They left their traditional grounds in present-day New York State and moved onto the Haldimand Tract in 1785 for the same reason as the Loyalists.  The land they left was arguably more theirs than the colonists’.

Later came the American Civil War, in which the slave states seceded from the Union in order to protect their ‘peculiar institution.’

The sentiment of ‘love America or leave it’ has a long history.

But the high dudgeon presently in the media over a chant at a Trump rally has more to do with current politics than seriously considered views.  Lots of people hate Trump, and emotion colours our perception of things.  People who hate Trump naturally want to find ill in anything he does.

Those who follow these rallies will have noticed a prevalence of three beat chants, such as “U-S-A”, “Four-more-years,” and “Lock-her-up”.  A recent one has been a play upon a Democratic contender: “First, you have the Boot, and then ‘edge-edge.  Boot-edge-edge”  The crowds love participating in a Trump rally, which is why he routinely speaks before 25,000 in a hockey arena with several thousand more watching on giant screens outside.  It was entirely predictable that Trump would talk about “The Squad”, as the four freshmen Democratic congresswomen call themselves: Alexandrea Ocasio-Cortez, Ilhan Omar, Rashida Tlaib, and Ayanna Presseley.  (“Is she related to Elvis?” Trump playfully asked.) It was also entirely predictable, and it was predicted by one observer, that the crowd would boo and take up some chant at their mention.  In this case, it was “send-her-back” while Trump was speaking of Ilhan Omar, a refugee from Somalia.

These chants are playful things that add to the festivity of a Trump rally.  People expect to chant, and look for opportunities to do so.  Again, Trump haters are going to get all serious about how wicked such sentiments are.  But the spirit in which these sentiments are expressed are not as hard-edged as the Trump haters express their hatred of Trump.

On the merits of the chant, however, there is some seriousness to it.  Ilhan Omar owes America a lot, and she doesn’t show it.  She expresses no love for the country that took her in and afforded her a good life.  Omar’s family fled the civil war in Somalia and resided in a camp in Ethiopia.  America accepted her and a bunch more Somalian refugees and gave them a home in Minnesota.  Safe and nourished in America, she attended good American schools, where she got a real education - not like she would have got in Somalia.  She was elected first to the Minnesota State legislature, and then to Congress.  Her words, actions, and traditional Somali headgear betray the ultimate aim of her politics, and it isn’t to make America great again.

Given her evident disdain for the country that has given her a good life and success, her absence of gratitude, her failure to recognize any of the good qualities of the country that took her in, it is only natural that the ire of American nativists would get raised a little bit at her prospect.  Therein lies the edge to the chant, “send-her-back.”  Native-born Americans love America as it is.  There are literally thousands of people at the Mexican border who also love America as she is, and would love to replace Ilhan Omar as a citizen.  There is plenty of reason to think that Omar is seriously in the wrong.  There are good reasons to ask why she stays, but we know why.
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