In 1847, a man named Hendrik Pieter Scholte, came to America leading a group of 40 families seeking religious freedom. He had been part of a spiritual awakening in the Netherlands that had put him at odds with the established church. He was jailed for preaching the Gospel without the permission of the authorities and his followers were harassed and forbidden to gather. He and his fellow Dutch pioneers decided to come to America to be a free people.
In 2008, a mother named Song Hwa Han, who is here with us this morning, and her two daughters escaped from a country that controlled every single aspect of their lives from where they lived, where they went to school, even what job they could have. Because this country’s government even restricted their ability to travel, when famine gripped their land, the family slowly started to starve to death. After seeing her mother, husband, and sons die, Song Hwa vowed to save her remaining two daughters and together they began a ten year journey to make it to freedom in America to be a free people.
Although these two people arrived in America 161 years apart, they both came when America was a land of opportunity and promise and prosperity. While America may have changed dramatically during that 161 year period, the fundamentals that made America great were still a part of our national fabric.
Yet, today that America is vanishing. We see government institutions used to stifle free speech, we see elected officials ignore the Constitution and the rule of law. We see attempts to limit freedom of the press and a refusal to recognize the seriousness of having an American ambassador and Americans serving abroad murdered. We see massive debt and joblessness. We see a massive government take over of our health care system despite the fact that Americans in every single poll have opposed this plan. Remember this was supposed to be about getting 40 million uninsured insured – it has also been a massive deception. This year of 2014 we simply have got to change direction. We have got to elect a Republican to the Senate, and we have got to defeat Gerry Connolly, who represents everything that is wrong in politics today. He does not represent the people of this 11th district.
You all know my background of working for a strong America and promoting freedom, democracy and human rights abroad. I am running for Congress because I have the right background to defeat Connolly. Today, May 10th is a very special day to two people groups I have devoted my life to helping. It was May 10th 1948 that the people of Korea were supposed to vote in their first free election after Japan’s occupation but those North of the DMZ under the Soviet Union were prevented from voting. It was May 10th 1973, that the people of Western Sahara formed the POLISARIO to fight for their liberation. Folks, let’s make May 10th the date we begin the liberation of Northern Virginia and our country from the tyrannies of partisan politicians like Gerry Connolly .
By the way, my ancestor Hendrick Pieter Scholte was a strong and outspoken Democrat – that was at least up until 1859. In 1859, he switched parties because he was so passionately against slavery. In fact, he became an abolitionist and supported Abraham Lincoln at the Republican Convention.
This is the year for all of us to come together – whether Republicans, Democrats or Independents — to work together to preserve what makes America the greatest nation on earth: our constitution, our rule of law, our freedom of speech, our freedom of the press, our free enterprise system—our FREE PEOPLE. Let’s restore that America for our children, our community, and the future dreamers like Hendrick and Songhwa. Thank you.