To say that anyone who protests in America should leave goes against every principle this country was founded upon.

If people who disagreed were forced to leave, this would not be America. Some of the greatest changes that America has undergone have been the direct result of a group of protesters.

In fact, this country would not even be a country were it not for a group of protesters writing “controversial essays” and deciding to start their own government.

We do not call these men “anarchists.” We call them “heroes.” They are revered as the fathers of our country.

A group of protesters are the reason America exists. A group of protesters are the reason women have the right to vote. A group of protesters are the reason we aren’t attending a segregated school.

The argument that Americans shouldn’t try to improve because we have it better than some countries simply isn’t a valid one.

Loving your country doesn’t mean turning a blind eye to its problems. Having it better than someone else doesn’t mean there is no room for improvement.

Yes, America is a great country, but it still has some problems.

Just ask any child who has ever been hated because of the color of his skin, or a teen mother who can’t get health insurance for her child.

Ask the woman who makes less than a man for doing the exact same job or the elderly couple who can’t afford the prescriptions they need just to make it through their everyday lives.

Ask a homosexual who goes through life constantly afraid of becoming the next victim of a hate crime or the child who is regularly beaten by an abusive parent and has no one to turn to for help.

Admitting that America has problems doesn’t mean loving it less. If anything, it means loving it more.

It means loving it so much that you are willing to put yourself on the line and work to make it better.

It means loving it too much to let it’s problems continue.

Haley Robinson is a junior political science and french major from Nashville.