Nosiree! Other options are available

Published 11:00 am Friday, July 29, 2016

MOULTRIE, Ga. — How often have you heard the expression, “Love it, or leave it?” The reference is to America of course.

When Merle Haggard sang “Okie From Muskogee” back in the late 1960s, he had a lot of people hoisting up long necks in a toast to that phrase. That was a very commercial country song …  a ditty wrapped in Old Glory.

Well, I try not to get caught up in such slogans because they can have different meanings to different folk, and context is always important. Often emotions override in-depth analysis. And any analysis may be in direct proportion to those aforementioned long necks.

 So right off, when I hear that phraseology, I’m actually hearing someone say, “If you don’t agree with me, leave America.”  Another thought that comes to my mind  in that regard is, “If I want your opinion, I’ll give it to you.”

I got into a discussion about this recently with a fellow who obviously has all the answers and wanted to impose them on me. That’s an hour of my life I can’t get back.  I did offer an observation and that was that this great nation of ours came about because of disagreements. Our forefathers had different opinions than King George. Eventually another great difference of opinions brought us the sorriest time in the history of our nation … The Civil War. 

Differences of opinion are all around us and are expressed from the mild to the violent. They are heard in city halls,  in public forum, out on the streets and on up to Capitol Hill. The subjects are myriad. And for each individual who embraces an issue, at that moment that issue to that individual is the greatest one on our big blue marble.

Some people will suggest that if you disagree with their point of view, then you can’t possibly be a patriot, even though you may have fought in two wars and you write a healthy check each April 15.

Some hired-gun consultants will even “salt the mine” with such words so as to suggest that if you oppose an idea, then you must be a communist, a redcoat, of maybe even a terrorist. An example: The Patriot Act. So who defines the essence of a patriot? The implication couldn’t have been more blatant if it had been named the  “Motherhood and Apple Pie Act.”

But probably many people don’t stop to think more than one-layer deep when these slogans and monikers are tossed about. To them, a play on words means a good game of Scrabble.

Trying to improve on things comes from many camps. But if those changes will upset someone else’s apple cart, apple pie or even their prejudices, then here comes that phraseology: “Love it or leave it.”

In my opinion, you may want to change it, and yet you still love it. And no, I don’t have to “leave it.” That said, there was a time in this country when it was legal to own other people. There was a time in this country when you had to own property to vote. There was a time in this country when a woman could not vote. There was a time in this country when a criminal suspect could have a confession beaten out of him, and it would stand up in court.

Well guess what. Some people loved this country enough that they disagreed with all of that. And I’m sure that in one form or another, the words “Love it or leave it,” were expressed.  Fortunately for us today, many people loved it and didn’t leave it. But they changed it.

(Dwain Walden is editor/publisher of The Moultrie Observer, 985-4545. Email: dwain.walden@gaflnews.com)