Message for New Americans about Freedom

Observe Carefully.  Assimilate Quickly.

By Emy Flor Delgaudio, http://EmyTheImmigrant.com
Remarks at the 9th annual Freedom Leadership Conference on November 11, 2009.  Emy Flor Delgaudio was elected in early 2009 to serve as the Chairman of the Board of Directors of the United States Public Policy Council, the primary organizer of the original Western Conservative Conference in California and in recent years the Freedom Leadership Conference in Thurmont, MD.  A former Country Manager for the largest “American Way” teaching system in the Philippines, she relocated to the United States and married Richard A. Delgaudio on June 1, 2007, and started her “EmyTheImmigrant” blog to speak to fellow immigrants about American exceptionalism and oppose socialism and corruption in America.

I was once lost. But now I’m found.

I can say to fellow immigrants, I know how you feel. I felt the same way. Now let me tell you what I found out.

Let me tell you why I’m proud to an American by choice, not by accident of birth.

But first, allow me to share this story about another immigrant to America, one who came before me.

She used to work as a registered nurse in the United Arab Emirates.

Her specialization is the highest level of the nursing profession.  She works in the high pressure, high stakes environment of the hospital operating room.

She was very much in demand by all the doctors after working for over 10 yrs. there, because she can be blindfolded and know exactly what instrument to hand over to the doctors she’s assisting during serious operation procedures that sometimes stretch to 16 long stressful hours.

When seconds count, this nurse is always efficient, reliable, dependable, calm.

One day, she was on her regular hospital duty, making rounds from room to room, checking on patients.

On her way back to the nursing station, she noticed there were no hospital staff to be seen along the corridors of the hospital and much to her surprise, her station booth was also empty.

No fellow nurses assigned there were present.  She thought, “This is unusual, something must be wrong!”

Could there be some serious emergency situation that required most of the staff to rush out and assist, she wondered?

She was starting to get worried, very concerned, so she searched the area at a faster pace, looking for what emergency event could have emptied the place out so thoroughly?

The highly efficient nurse, getting more alarmed as she walked through the empty corridors of the now deserted hospital (or so it appeared), continued searching through all possible places where the missing staff could have gone off to.

She noticed only several fellow Filipino nurses also working there but none of the doctors or nurses who were UAE natives.

There’s only one place left which she had not yet visited.

At this point, she was highly alarmed, and walking much faster than she had started. What ever could it be that caused the hospital to empty out like this?

She walked towards one last place to search, a huge room that serves as a lounge room for hospital staff, pretty huge to accommodate a large crowd or gathering, sometimes even a party room.

To her surprise, it was crowded by mostly Muslim hospital staff from doctors, nurses, medical Techs, etc.   And the party room is in fact, or so it appears, being used as a party room.

What is the occasion for this sudden, surprise party that emptied the hospital of all the Muslim staff, she wondered?

In fact, it really did look like a party, with expensive wines and various snacks and appetizers , clapping and a lot of loud shouts and a steady buzz of excitement.  As if they’re celebrating something.

Some of them appear to be literally jumping for joy, barely able to control themselves.  It is a very enthusiastic crowd, for more so than she has ever seen in the country.

All of the Muslims from the United Arab Emirates, are facing a huge TV set and there she saw what appeared to be an “instant replay” – a tall tower building exploded, and collapsed.

Then another of the same size and build, had fire and smoke, and she saw bodies of people falling, very clearly to their death, along with the debris of building structure crumbling to pieces then fell to the ground engulfing the place in huge smoke of ashes.

The second large building, like the first one, collapsed in smoke and fire.

She was dumbfounded at the sight she saw. The chaos and shouting for joy of the people in the lounge room, contrasted with the violence, destruction and death she was seeing unfold on the TV screen everyone was watching.

Then she heard the TV host explaining about what happened.

She was shocked to see her the very doctors she had assisted in their operation procedures, her bosses, colleagues and so called friends, were celebrating that morbid event, which later she found out was happening in New York City, United States of America.

She said she cannot describe the terrible, awful feeling she had after she witnessed in the hospital she worked at.  There was joy and the celebration of the deaths of innocent Americans and the unexpected destruction of one of the most famous buildings in the world, the World Trade Center.

It was Sept. 11, 2001.  That Filipina, is my sister.

This is a true story.

My sister decided to file her resignation papers, after that unforgettable incident in Dubai, United Arab Emirates.

She immediately filed her application for a working visa to the United States.  It took 2 years of waiting, from 2001 to 2003, when she finally got her working visa and moved to this country.

Her wait included one year of unemployment, a high price to pay for her decision to get away from those who are so hateful towards America.

My sister may not have learned as much as I have learned, in order for me to be here talking to you like this here today.

But let me tell you this.

She learned something very important, very unforgettable, well before me.

And she became an American by choice, long before me.  She took her stand after September 11, 2001. I am proud of her.

Today the U.S. Army Chief of Staff still hasn’t learned what my sister learned back then, on September 11, 2001.

My sister learned that there are people in this world of ours who hate America, who hate the light.  Who wish to snuff out your candle America.

Listen to me.  One of them, those who hate America and want to snuff your candle out, and make the darkness win, did his dirty work at Fort Hood, Texas.

And 13 candles of those Americans in uniform, who stood for freedom in this world, were put out.

Of course, it still shocks many of us to learn, that as on any other government installation, even soldiers of the United States Army are forced to be disarmed.

That’s right, unarmed American soldiers, on a U.S. Army base, are LESS safe, they are MORE vulnerable here on American soil, than on a foreign base where they would not have had their weapons taken away.

So the only one who had a gun, two in fact, was the terrorist who attacked and killed 13 and wounded dozens more at Fort Hood, Texas.

That should tell us something.

Perhaps it is time for Americans to realize, you can’t win a war, if you disable your own soldiers.

You can’t win a war President Obama, if you refuse to let them fight, if you refuse to let them defend this blessed country, if you refuse to send them the help that they asked for in Afghanistan.

But I am not here to curse the darkness. I am here to light a candle, to remind Americans that it is not about diversity, it is not about tolerance, and it is not about understanding.

Those who want to hurt you, really do want to kill you America. They want freedom to be dead, and that means you America.

Please, don’t have any doubt about the struggle you are in, the struggle for your life, the struggle started by America’s founding fathers for a country where your inalienable rights were given to you by God, not by any government, not by any immams or mullahs.

Yes, my sister learned that lesson in the United Arab Emiretes, supposedly one of the Arab countries friendly to the United States.  My sister learned the truth about how a lot of people think about America, and about Americans, as she saw them cheering and dancing to the news of 3,000 Americans being killed, saw the room burst into cheers each and every time another American was forced to leap to his death from the twin towers of that world trade center.

It really is enough to make me cry, that there are people in this world who hate you so much, America, just because you light the candle of freedom, you would banish the darkness. So, my sister fled that place. As quickly as she could. She set her sights on America, the place those people hate so much.

Her first destination, with 2 young kids in tow, was New Jersey. In 2006, they moved to Las Vegas, Nevada, where she thought there’s greater opportunity for her working as a nurse.

So, like me, she’s an American by choice. But like most immigrants, her idea of having good and better life in America is move to places where there are better job opportunities. Most of the time, that means cities. Most of the time, that is what you called Blue State America.

My two nieces – my sister’s kids – came to live with us for over a month, last year.

I learned as much as they did from the experience. I learned that in Blue State America – the American cities – your parcel post package left on your doorstep might vanish within a half hour.

In red state America – I’ve lived in south-central Pennsylvania for 30 months – we have had $1,000 of our Amway products sit for several days on our front doorstep when we were traveling. No problem, no worries.

So the pay is better in the cities, but the crime and the massive traffic, and the crowds, and the long lines, are all there too. Above all, the crime, in American cities just like in cities throughout the world. Why?

A lot of poor people in those cities listen to the promises of politicians and elect a lot of liberals, who increase taxes on business. That’s what the politicians say they will do – increase taxes on the businessman. It is the only promise they always keep.

Because of the higher taxes, some of those businesses go out of business. Some leave the city. Some fire some workers.

And all of this means, more people in the city lose their jobs, become poor.

Which causes more crime. Which goes on and on, since the politicians never learn, and the poor people never figure it out.

Of course when the news media talks about Red State and Blue State America they don’t tell you this. But I have figured it out.  Most immigrants, throughout the history of America, live in the blue state, or high crime part of the country, in the cities.  Some of us, thank goodness, don’t.

Early on in America, I started to realize that I had learned some things that other immigrants still hadn’t figured out.  So, with the encouragement of my husband, I started to write about why America is exceptional.

It has been about 18 months since the Emytheimmigrant.com blog was created.  My sister, like another Filipino immigrant friend, was in shock. Being my sister, she thought she can freely express her upset and concern.

So she asked me, “Why are you doing that? How much do you really think you know about America, being so new here?

Don’t you know people will attack and criticize you for what you’re doing?”

It was not easy to appease someone like her, who has s strong opinion that she knew better because she came ahead of me in this country, nothing different from other immigrants who think that being in America as an immigrant is just about earning and working hard for the money to live better lives and to be able to support our family and be able to extend help to other family members we left behind in our country of origin.

Like most immigrants who have formed a conclusion that we are the minority, we must stay behind the scenes and just be followers or sadly sometimes be just spectators on the subject of politics and government issues.

With a little cajoling and expression of sisterly love, she finally agreed to check out my first blog post as “EmyTheImmigrant.”

A week before the election last year, she called me from Las Vegas to tell me that true story which she said she has never told anyone.

It’s about the story I relayed to you today.  Almost a story never told, had she not read my blog, about my great concerns of who will be the next president of this great country, and about my concern about the future of freedom in America.

Somehow, I knew we have influenced her way of thinking and finally understood the message we want to get across through immigrants who are blinded by false promises of politicians.

Thus, she told me then, that like me and Richard, she was calling on fellow Filipino-American friends to check out my blog and ask them to vote wisely and not be carried away by the promise for CHANGE made by one particular candidate.

“Change” is the most overused, misused and abused word by politicians from our country of origin. Thus, we do not want that to happen here in our adopted country.  We both agreed that EmyTheImmigrant blogging will somehow be an eye-opener for fellow immigrants.

America is not simply a country to serve as melting pot for gold accumulated, then send back “home”.

They sent it back to the home country- where family and friends are.   In their mind it’s their future.  They’re future oriented, so back home is their country of origin.

Most do not understand about inalienable rights.  Probably, they have read the US constitution only once because they’ll take the US citizenship, pass the test and take oath in front of the officer and be a holder of the most sought green card.

Many immigrants live and earn money here, but really think of America as a place to earn, a place to do some planting and then soon, harvest the crop and perhaps later, head back to live the rest of their life in the home country.

When they learn that they can earn and vest in the social security system, they can retire and have a driver and car back home, for that social security check, they can live like a rich person.

This is not home, here in America, to some.  It is where they came from, and where they are going back. Are these people really Americans then?

Some immigrants think to make as much as they can earn, but in their mind they are still of the old country, no matter if they hold American citizenship or not.

They think any talk of blending into America is an insult.

The idea of a “melting pot” is an insult to their background, is their thinking.

The word “assimilate” is a put down of their heritage, they think.

How can I reach out to those who, like me, are proud of where they come from, proud of their heritage as they look forward to earning their own way and reaching for their dreams in America?

Let me tell you about the 3 F’s.

It is my message of how I aim to reach my fellow new Americans, the immigrants whose enthusiasm for hard work, whose willingness to provide honest work for fair pay is what built America big, strong and prosperous.

I want to tell you about my 3 F’s – FEEL, FELT, FOUND.

I used my 3 F’s talking to a Filipino-American friend in NY who recently called me to warn, “You might not get your US citizenship or worse, you might be locked up in jail for what you are writing about in your blog, for being critical of President Obama.”

I have to cup my mouth, not to let her hear me almost bursting in laughter about what I heard from her. She has after all, been here for many more years than I, and is simply expressing her fears for me her friend and trying to straighten me out.

So I said, ‘ I know how you feel, my friend. If I was writing a criticism of the government in a public blog, back when I was still in the Philippines, I may have felt that same way, worried that I could get in trouble, even be put in jail.

So I honestly could tell my friend, I know exactly what you are saying, I know how you feel.

And I could honestly say as a newcomer to America, that I felt the same way.

But I could also tell my friend – that I have found out some things by reading, by having a well informed husband who I listen to and who shares with me books and magazines and websites that I would otherwise not have ever noticed or known about.

And I found out some things that I want to share with my friend, I told her.

Yes, I know how you feel. I used to feel the same way. But let me tell you what I found out.

I found out, after reading the US Declaration of Independence, why the American founding fathers took up arms against the mightiest country on earth, with the strongest military.

I found out that the U.S. Constitution defends our inalienable rights by limiting the power of the government to hurt us, and by empowering us to be able to express our views, and to make our politicians listen to us, not make us be obedient to them.

I felt the same way in many ways as my immigrant friend but, I had the chance to talk to and to listen to and read the words of many very well informed Americans. And I found that what they said, made sense to me.

Last but not least, I found out some things by being mentored by my husband on those very issues of most concern to me as one of the newest Americans, here by choice, not by accident of birth, here for a purpose, as are we all.

In America, political activism is not a bad thing but a civic virtue, unlike in our country of origin, where the words activist and activism are negative words, almost synonymous to ‘being tortured or ending up in jail’ (especially during the Marcos regime).’

And what about assimilation, melting pot, blending in, fitting in? What about the idea of leaving behind your own culture, background and national origins?

I know how they feel. I have felt the same way. But let me tell you what I found out.

Here is a book well worth reading. It is John T. Molloy’s book, Dress for Success, a bestseller in 1975. It still sells, every year through to today. I knew about this book before, but I never realized, until I learned from my husband, that this book can be the success book for immigrants who want to achieve their dreams in America.

You see, I found out that assimilation is not an insult to forget your background, spit on our heritage, insult our family, make us mad at the insult to our country of origin.

The word “assimilate” does not mean any of that.

Assimilate, and the ideas in this book by John T. Molloy, are but a tool by which you can accomplish your goal of success in America, to be happy in America, to become part of the group of successful Americans.

This book and this idea of assimilating, means simply that if we want what successful people have, then we must act as successful people act.

We must speak as they do, dress as they do, act as they do, think as they do.

If you want to be a fast runner, you learn from those who were on the track team before you and who run the fastest and win the most medals. You act and think like them, to accomplish what they did.

If you want to play a musical instrument it is the same thing. You find who went before you and achieved what you want. You study them. You emulate them. You adopt their way of acting, speaking, thinking, as best you can. If you want what they have, you act as they have.

Of course if you act like the failures, the ones who don’t make any money, the ones who have no success, the ones who never have time for their family, who never spend time with their spouse – then you will end up getting the same thing as them, a very unhappy life.

If you talk like them, if you watch the same TV channels they watch, for the same number of hours, if you avoid reading books like this one, if you don’t come to conferences like this one we are at today, if you don’t read and study and associate with more successful people, then you won’t have the personal growth to be a success.

Yes I know. It is easy enough for new Americans to do as so many have.

To continue to hang out with people who only speak Italian or German or Tagalog for us Filipinos. To watch only TV in our native language. To only read newspapers in our native tongue, to go to events organized by people from the old country. To read, think and speak, only as people of the old country. To act like what Americans would call simply, foreigners.

This behavior is not blending in, but setting us apart from Americans, branding us as outsiders, as foreigners. Then some get angry, when they are treated as outsiders, as foreigners.

But what happens if we seek out the most successful Americans, study them, and learn to think, speak and act the same way they do?

Isn’t it obvious, that if we do as they did we will have what they have?

That is exactly what John T. Molloy’s book teaches, starting in 1975, and based upon his own research about what works and does not work for people to become successful.

To be successful is to look where you want to go, and make a decision to act the way that successful people do who reached that goal you have set for yourself.

On page 169 of his book, John T. Molloy says, ‘the only way to learn what is acceptable to the group you’re interested in joining is to observe carefully and assimilate quickly.”

Yes my friends, it is simple, isn’t it:

Observe carefully. Assimilate quickly.

Our conservative cause message to immigrants is simply this: you have a choice.

Change you can believe in will happen because you can make it happen, not because some politician is going to give it to you on a silver platter if you vote for him.

The Spanish conquistadors who came to the America’s and to the Philippines, came here to get the gold, dig it out of the ground, ship it home, and then finally, go back home.

They did not make colonies in America or the Philippines, because they wanted to build their home there, raise their children there, make a new start.

They came to take, and then to leave.

In the American south, like the conquistadors of Spain, some planted tobacco, the American south version of gold, and had slaves harvest it for them.

They brought slaves to the Caribbean too, and the countries of Holland, France, England fought it out for supremacy on those islands for the gold – harvesting crops using slaves.

They came to make money and go home.

The ones who decided to stay and build a future, built a country, and they had to fight a revolution to do it.  That is where America came from – the ones who decided to stay, the ones who did in fact, assimilate.

Today, there are people who act just like those plantation owners of old – and they are treating immigrants like slaves.  We have a word for them. We call them, Liberals.

My husband says liberals are nice – they just don’t realize their stuff doesn’t work, and that with their handouts and promises to immigrants, they are really just enslaving us, taking away our choices, stopping us from assimilating and getting control of our own future.  We become dependant on them and their programs, if we accept their offers of change.

Isn’t it true, that immigrants are always the hardest workers of anyone in America?

Isn’t it true, that the slaves of the south, worked harder than anyone else in the south?

Isn’t it true, that the Germans, Italians, Latvians, Polish, Irish were all the hardest working Americans?

So then, why would any of us want a handout from people who, whether good intentioned liberals or awful, hardcore leftists, are enslaving us with their so-called gifts?

Instead of begging for a new government program, isn’t it better for us to control our own future?

Isn’t it the truth, that every time they make us a promise of a new program they tell us they will give to us who have not, by taking away from those who have?

But if we work the hardest of anyone, why would any of us want a handout or any government program?

Isn’t it the truth that under socialism, the hardest working people end up having the harvest that they produced, taken away and given to those less fortunate?

Isn’t it the truth, that when you take from the most productive people you are punishing them instead of rewarding them for their good work?

Successful people didn’t get that way because of a handout, because some politician took from one group to give to them.

Successful people learn how to get that way by studying those who already accomplished what they want.

America is an exceptional place.  It is unique.  It is blessed.  But it is no accident that it works the way it does.  You can be successful in America if you want it, if you study those who did what you want, then you can read what they read, listen to what they listened to, learn how to think as they do, and achieve what they did.

I want so much to share the ideas of freedom and success in America – that it is a choice anyone can have if they want it.

Especially I want to share these ideas with fellow immigrants, the hardest working, the new Americans.  I hate it that they are being taken advantage of, enslaved and used.

My husband heard me talking about this a number of times, with fellow immigrants.  Often it was in Tagalog he did not understood, but he heard the emotion in my voice.  And he asked me about the conversation.

And finally, he convinced me that in America, we have this new opportunity called the blog, to write up our words, to speak out about what concerned us, to share our ideas with other Americans and indeed, throughout the world.

Like you here today, I was inspired by Joe the Plumber and his story – and how he truly spoke truth to power, when he asked candidate Obama how he could “share the wealth around” without destroying the incentive of hard working people like him to earn and achieve?

So, I became Emy the Immigrant, and despite having some misgivings about the GOP candidate for President, I spoke out against the Democrat who seemed like a socialist to me.  I wrote and spoke for immigrants, both in short youtube videos and in my blog.

It hasn’t always been easy, because so many immigrants are so thoroughly indoctrinated and propagandized.  They think that we must talk to the politicians and get promises from them.  They think we need government programs.  They don’t yet realize, that going down that road leads to slavery, dependence, not freedom and control of your own future.

Some of my immigrant friends are reluctant to even look at my blog or discuss my ideas. But I am not discouraged, because I know I have reached some of them, and I can reach more in the future.

I recall one dinner party at my apartment in the Philippines. My husband’s side of the story is that he was giving me the chance to chase him down, and make him an offer.  The truth is, he recognized in me a catch, and let me tell you why, among other things, he figured it out.

You see, it is true that a man becomes as he thinks.  And what is in your brain, is either the choice of others in your life, or your own choice based on who you listen to, who you associate with, and especially, what you read.

Well, at that dinner party after we had started to know one another, while my other guests were chatting, I saw Richard eyeballing my bookshelf. And he was noticing that many of the books I had, were books he read too.  Books that tell success stories, by Americans but for anyone who wants to read and learn, not just for Americans.

Others of my friends thought I had too many books. As I later learned, that’s nothing compared to how many books Richard has.  But he was certainly impressed that I was making an effort, to train my mind, to change my thinking to be more of a success.

Our THURMONT statement of beliefs, talks about the perfectability of man.  It explains the difference between us conservatives and those liberals, is that we believe it is possible to perfect or improve yourself. They believe that a government program will make men perfect.

Well, when Richard went over my bookcase, he didn’t find a single book that had that idea that said the government would make me better.  Every book, was about how I can improve, how I can perfect myself, how I can change my thinking, by my OWN efforts!

So I was on the lookout for someone like Richard, who would appreciate me not for what I am, but for what I am becoming, and that I can be his completer and help make him better, help perfect him.

I think he figured it out, not just by eyeballing me – which he did at our first meeting on a Thursday night where he spoke – but by eyeballing what I was reading, and how I was thinking, and how I was speaking.

So, he became my fiancé, and I became his partner, his helpmate and an American by choice. I never realized that my duties as the wife of Richard Delgaudio, would also bring me to a conference like this, and show me the way to write a blog to reach fellow Americans by choice, with our conservative message.

So I ask my fellow new Americans.  You, who made a choice to be here.

Which group do you want to be with in your future?

Do you want to chase around those politicians and see which promises they will keep?

Do you want to be worrying whether they will take money from you and give to those who don’t work as hard, or will they take it from someone else and give it to you?

Or do you want to use your own two hands and your own mind to achieve, to improve, to accomplish and to earn the American dream?

I ask you, do you want to let others control your future, or be in charge of your own destiny?

Learning how to fit in, isn’t something that the government teaches us, not in the Philippines, and not here.

The big question isn’t whether or not you want to fit in.  You will – it is only a question of, with WHOM do you want to fit in?

We grew up without being taught how to assimilate, how to properly dress up that will fit in to the people whose dreams we share.

No, it isn’t something that is taught in schools not in the Philippines, not in America.

Any of us can change, once we realize what we need to do in order to succeed.  Here for example, is a picture of my husband on an ID I found in our house. He is wearing a way too dark shirt, and look, his hair is Oh so long.

Incredibly, Richard had already been hired to go to work in Washington, DC looking like this.  He didn’t yet know what he learned later, from the John T. Malley book.

Anyone can change, anyone can ask, with WHOM do I wish to fit in, WHERE do I want to assimilate, what GROUP do I want to be a part of?

Because this is America, and you do have a choice, and it isn’t a handout from some politician, but what you can achieve yourself that I am talking about.

If I seem rather direct in what I am telling you today, I wish for you to understand that talking like this has earned me some criticism.

Some of my critics are also immigrants from other Asian countries and some of Hispanic origin, like one of Richard’s acquaintance who told our Vietnamese American friend that I have no right to tell other people about what America is all about, nor discuss any issues regarding American politics and history, ‘Because, she says, I am too new in America to know anything, so I should be silent.

Of course, she was an Obama voter last year. And like others on the left, she could not really discuss her ideas, only attack me for having any.

Hello! In the Philippines, we also have access to computers and the internet, read books and little did she know that the last job I held in my country of origin was working for an American multi-millionaire.  One of my functions was organizing conferences where I invite successful business owners from other countries to teach the American way of doing business.

So, long before I met the man who did the sales job to persuade me to enlist permanently in his cause, now our cause, I was already telling people about The American Way, and urging them to study the lives and thought process of successful Americans, so they could assimilate, so they could fit in with that, and have that success for themselves.

Most people, know very little about the most basic ideas of success.  I learned from successful people and used their ideas in my own business I started to build in the Philippines.  Later, I worked in partnership with Richard over there.  Then I used those principles when I moved here in America to build a much better and bigger organization as a couple and as his full business partner.  We are happy to teach not only about having financial freedom but we also impart what we have learned from the more successful leaders in this American based business.

Economic freedom can be achieved if we have stability within the household, which a woman has more power to influence than does a man. And I learned that success is not just money, but how do you spend your time, and with whom?

I am a very happy lady because my husband and I are able to spend more time together than anyone either one of us knows. And it is a constant shock to my friends who are usually apart from their spouse, for most of the days and weeks of their lives.

Well, I am past my time so I will now wrap up my talk.  I know there is some curiosity about us as a “mixed couple” – my being from the Philippines – as I joke an Hispanic, since my country at one time was conquered by Spain just like Mexico and Puerto Rico.

I have been an American by choice for two and a half years now, the proud wife of Richard Delgaudio, one of the most focused and dedicated conservatives that ever lived. I have been with him almost literally, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, for the whole time.

We don’t go off in different directions to jobs but work out of the home, and are partners in most everything that we both do.

Richard is my mentor and teacher, and I take care of him and help stabilize his life. We also give each other purpose.

I know that some of the critics I have earned because of my blog posts, usually written with my husband, one more thing we do together, say about me that I have pretend to be knowledgeable about America more than those other fellow immigrants, and that I do not have enough humility.

My husband reminded me of the words of one of his heroes. I liked what Winston Churchill said to his opponent in one race for Prime Minister of England – “my opponent is a humble man,” said Winston Churchill, “And much he has to be humble about.”

I am Emy the Immigrant, and I’m proud to be an American. By choice. Not by accident of birth.

I am learning why America is exceptional.

This annual Freedom Leadership Conference is an important part of my learning, and having the chance to talk to you like this today, forced me to spend many hours preparing, thinking, writing, talking to my husband, and writing some more.

I think we can all become better informed Americans. I think we can all learn how to think better, act better because we believe that He made us for a purpose and that as He made us was His gift to us, and what we become, how we perfect ourselves, is our Gift to Him our Creator.

So I say thank you to my mentor, my partner, husband and leader, Richard Delgaudio, the founder of this organization United States Public Policy Council, the founder of this 8th annual conference, a very consistent conservative, who never tires of sharing with me what he has learned in a career dedicated to freedom.

He has sometimes paid a terrible price because of his forthright stand for our principles, and the few slings and arrows and stones that have come my way because of my blog, are nothing at all, compared to the bombs, bullets and missiles that have struck him, as a result of what he has said and written for this cause.

Why ever, would anyone criticize me, or my husband, or us?

Could it be because we say as we believe, as the new THURMONT statement of beliefs proclaims:

quote, We are right. They are oh so wrong. Unquote.

This is why I was proud to say yes when they asked me to serve as your Chairman of the Board, of the United States Public Policy Council, to help you light that candle to banish the dark.

And this is why I am proud to be an American, and to blog for freedom, and to try to reach both immigrants, the new Americans, and to reach also the native Americans who may have forgotten, that freedom is never free, and that we must all do our part to defend this precious gift.

We hold these truths to be self evident, and are proud to hold up America as the light of the world, and bequeath to our children, God’s and our American founders’ gift of freedom. unquote.

I’m Emy the Immigrant, and that is my opinion. I really do know how you feel. I felt the same way. And now I have told you what I found.  Thank you, and God bless you, and God bless America.

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