May 8, 2024
Only in America, Where Idaho Values Began
“What we have given you, Madam, is a republic if you can keep it.”
by: Christy Zito, Candidate for Idaho Senate, District 8
This is a picture of my grandmother. She married my grandfather just two weeks before he left to come to America. She waited for him for seven years. WWI began just as my grandfather landed at Ellis Island, making it impossible for him to return to his bride. He, his four brothers, and his father worked across this beautiful country, taking whatever jobs were available.
One of their jobs was with the railroad; they would load box cars and ride in them as the train traveled across the country, going to California, where they would work to ice produce bound for cities across this great land again.
One of the stops they made on this journey was in Corrine, Utah. The brothers could see that America was the land of opportunity.
The brothers settled in Northern Utah, worked, saved, and brought their wives and youngest brother to their new home.
My grandmother did not speak English; she did not read or write, she gave birth 9 times in 12 years, buried one child, and her husband when my dad, the youngest, was six.
There was no social security, and the instructions on the soap bottle did not have Albanian on the label. She paid for the farm and raised eight children who became productive members of society.
Tell me, where in any other country could a woman like my grandmother accomplish what she did? In what other country in the world could the granddaughter of an immigrant woman who spoke no English and did not read and write become a Senator? My family is proud to be American.
I am often asked how I strongly defended our first freedoms when I served in the Idaho House. As your Senator, the answer is easy: love of country, faith, and gratitude to God for our freedom and the opportunity to live in America.
Those who seek to destroy this great country do not seem to understand that there are millions of people like you and me who love America and cherish the values that built what we all have enjoyed.
Idaho is turning blue. I promise to dedicate my time to representing you in the Idaho Senate, doing all I can to keep the line and keep our state from going down the same path as states like Colorado, Oregon, and California.
My family didn’t forget our heritage or traditions, but we were raised knowing we were Americans by choice. My father served in the Army. Even though he grew up without a father, that was never an excuse for bad behavior. He served honorably in the military. He cared for his family and contributed to the community; he passed at age 54, leaving a legacy of community service.
Let the legacy of American exceptionalism continue. I am proud to be an American and an Idahoan.
Make a plan; vote on May 21st!
We ride at dawn!!!
