Almost 50 years ago, the music of Paul Simon and Art Garfunkel was high on my list of favorites. Songs like “The Sound of Silence” and “Bridge Over Troubled Water” remain stuck in my head, welcome inhabitants in my attic of the past. Shortly after the release of their fifth album, the duo broke up. While both men continued working in music and the movies, most critics agree that the split damaged their music and their bank accounts.

In 1975, Simon struck gold with a hit song, “50 Ways to Leave Your Lover.” Here are the first four lines of the opening, followed by the first four lines of the refrain:

‘The problem is all inside your head,’ she said to me
‘The answer is easy if you take it logically
I’d like to help you in your struggle to be free
There must be fifty ways to leave your lover’

You just slip out the back, Jack
Make a new plan, Stan
You don’t need to be coy, Roy
Just get yourself free

Skip forward 50 years years to early September 2026 when 84-year-old Garfunkel announced that he might leave the United States because of his disgust with Donald Trump. He specifically attacked the president and his administration for their stance on climate change and on their intervention in Venezuela. “I’m not aboard, and I’m thinking of leaving the country, frankly,” he said.

As soon as this headline popped up, Simon’s “50 Ways” popped into my head. Substitute the world “country” for “lover,” and the song offers perfect advice for Garfunkel.

First, there’s that opening line, “The problem is all inside your head.” If you’re thinking of leaving the country on account of the president, you’re likely suffering a severe case of TDS (Trump Derangement Syndrome), which, by the way, some psychologists view as an illness.

Then there’s the song’s advice about slipping out the back, hopping on a bus, and getting yourself free. Again, a perfect fit for Garfunkel. We might even add this line to the lyrics: “Pack your bags and depart, Art.”

Garfunkel’s announcement also brought to my mind a long-ago conversation with a professor and friend at North Carolina’s Guilford College, Dr. Ed Burrows. Burrows was a conscientious objector during World War II who spent time in prison for his beliefs. In 1972, with the fighting in Vietnam ongoing, I asked what he thought of those Americans who had fled to Canada to avoid the draft. He was a kind and gentle man, and a liberal to the core, but he couldn’t quite hide his contempt for them. “America is their country,” he said, “and if they loved America, they’d stay here and peacefully protest, even if it meant jailtime. Running away won’t make this a better country.”

During the Trump presidency we’ve seen any number of Americans who threatened to leave the country because of their hatred for him or for his policies. We’re witnessing even more people, a mob of left-wing socialists and Antifa rioters, who are open in their hatred not only for Trump, but for their country. Some of them would like nothing better than to tear the United States to pieces. Meanwhile, they use the very freedoms guaranteed by our Constitution, liberties paid for in blood, toil, and sweat by previous generations, to undermine the liberties permitting them a podium.

This crowd includes both aged liberals and young radicals, yet all share a commonality:  ingratitude. They bury the goodness, justice, and beauty of the American past beneath shovelfuls of perceived injustices. Like Garfunkel, some have grown wealthy, yet despise the system that dumped money into their bank accounts. Others, generally the younger crew, resent their lack of money and possessions, and believe that socialism will rectify that imbalance. They are oblivious to 100 years of failed and often murderous collectivist experiments, and are ignorant of those times in the American past when their forebearers pulled themselves out of tough times by hard work and grit.

Many conservatives I know are also unhappy with today’s politics and government, yet here’s the difference: they love their country. They separate the government, the scandals, the woke culture, from the America they know, love, and appreciate. They seek change because they love their country, their opponents because they despise that country.

No matter which side you’re on, choose love and gratitude as your motives, and then, if you feel so compelled, embrace a cause. Spurn those who advocate violence or who operate out of pure emotion rather than reason. You may lose some battles, but you’ll win the war for your soul.

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This article was made possible by The Fred & Rheta Skelton Center for Cultural Renewal. 

Image credit: NARA and DVIDS Public Domain Archives