10 Years In America: Making American Dreams Come True

Tomorrow is the most special day of the year for me, and this year in particular, I feel that it is the most important day of my life.

It is not my birthday; it is an even more significant date. It is the ten-year anniversary of declaring the United States my home. I did it the hard way, the legal way, the patriotic way, and most of all, the happy way.

As I said ten years ago, and even before, I have always been an American in my heart, even though I was born abroad. From my earliest days, I saw a shining city on a hill calling to me with its promises of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness—the most profound values to ever define any nation.

For me, life has always been precious. I learned that when, as a small child, I stared down death in the form of stage 4 cancer. This was the first of my many challenges. It is one that I thank God for allowing me to overcome.

Growing up in a country that talks endlessly about sectional rights but little about liberty, I always knew that a free spirit and hard worker would find no better home than in the United States.

As I have said before, when those who have an aversion to liberty tell us to sit down and shut up, we’ll remind them that our Second Amendment means we never have to sit down and that our First Amendment means we never have to shut up. This is the foundation of American exceptionalism. Our government neither gives nor receives. Instead, the Founding Fathers designed a Bill of Rights that limits the government’s ability to restrain the excellence of a free-thinking, innovative, pioneering people.

Finally, there is the right to pursue happiness. I am by nature an optimist. When you almost lose life itself and then receive the blessing of survival, God is sending a powerful message. The message is to never waste a single moment on bitterness, jealousy, regret, spitefulness, or negativity. America is the land where we can pursue happiness to the fullest, and for this, I am eternally grateful.

Today is also the anniversary of FLAG—The Foundation for Liberty and American Greatness. I founded FLAG so that the message, meaning, and everyday success stories made possible by our great Constitution will never be forgotten. It is not enough to wish a better future for the next generation of Americans; we must all work hard so that their successes are greater than their predecessors’.

To accomplish this, young Americans deserve peerless civic education that teaches them the meaning behind President Kennedy’s call to Americans who ought not to ask what their country can do for them, but who instead ask what they can do for their country.

When I founded FLAG, the nation was at a crossroads, where patriotism, individualism, family, God, and country were under attack from the forces of internationalism, collectivism, statism, agnosticism, and globalism.

Today, after ten years, FLAG stands as a testament to my personal passion for engendering love for this great country by giving the next generation the tools necessary to Keep America Great for decades to come.

The United States remains the land where anything is possible. It is the land of second chances rather than predetermined failure. It is the land where things are invented, and yet the spirit of 1776 runs through our most modern arts and sciences.

To those who still doubt the exceptional qualities of this great nation, I say this:

When America is on bended knee, she still stands taller than all others.

When others started writing America’s concluding chapter, patriotic Americans were optimistically writing a brand-new book that made fools of all naysayers.

When cynics say that American greatness is a thing of the past, great Americans work harder than ever to prove the cynics wrong.

Perhaps most importantly, while the media talks endlessly about divisions in America, I can attest to the fact that Americans are the kindest, most giving, and most compassionate people on earth.

Even when the entire world says in unison, “It cannot be done,” somewhere out there in one of our 50 great states, there is already an American doing it.

As I continue to write my American story, I want to thank my fellow citizens for embracing me, guiding me, and holding me close to the bosom of Lady Liberty. Some in this world are fortunate enough to call Lady Liberty their earliest civic maternal guide.

Some, like me, work hard to receive her loving adoption. Today, come rain or shine, whether it’s a fun week or a difficult week ahead, I can look in the mirror and see the smiling face of an American citizen ready to take on all challenges.

Thank you, America. You are the greatest ever, and we are all becoming greater than ever before thanks to the tremendous achievements of our President’s New Golden Age.