Your Complete Recap From the First Day of 'Man in the Moon': Independence Day

"Because in American politics, we have two choices: dependency, or independence."

Thursday brought patriotic Americans from every corner of the country -- and a few from across the ocean -- to Salt Lake City for the first official day of Glenn Beck's "Man in the Moon" events.

Hour after hour, prominent speakers weighed in on everything from faith to history, to comedy and politics. But despite the varied backgrounds and stories of the speakers -- which included Michelle Malkin, Mia Love, and Deneen Borelli, and David Barton -- they all came back to the same theme: Independence.

Malkin, who had a line out the door and "more applause breaks than the State of the Union," in the words of TheBlaze's Mike Opelka, greeted the audience with a fiery speech about "the 'A' word: assimilation."

Michelle Malkin joins Congressman Louie Gohmert (R-Texas) and his wife.

Whens she sees bumper stickers that say "celebrate diversity," Malkin said with scorn, she wants to scribble them out and say we need to celebrate America, and "the sacred fire of liberty that is supposed to be in the breasts of everyone in this country."

She also touched on education, analogizing her own experience at Oberlin to "campus apartheid," saying the "tolerance mob" rapidly squelched any intellectual diversity when she and her husband tried to start a paper with a different opinion.

Read TheBlaze's full recap of Michelle Malkin's speech here.

Malkin was joined by conservative rock stars Mia Love and Deneen Borelli, both sharing stories from their upbringing and speaking about how it influences them today.

Saratoga Springs Mayor Mia Love addresses the Utah Republican Party's annual organizing convention Saturday, May 18, 2013, in Sandy, Utah. (Photo: AP)

Saratoga Springs mayor and congressional candidate Mia Love explained how her parents came to the United States with $10 to their name, and worked every day to provide for her family after their arrival.

But not only did they provide food and basic necessities, they bought a house and put every one of their children through college.

Love recalled her father saying to her after graduation: "Mia, you will not be a burden to society. You will give back."

And to this day, she thinks about those words.

"Hard work, education, thrift, and independence," she stated, "will take you far beyond what any government can ever promise."

Deneen Borelli, the author of "Blacklash" and director of outreach for FreedomWorks, spoke about how she worked multiple jobs in addition to going to school for most of her youth to support her dream of becoming a model.

But though she never graced the cover of Vogue, as was her dream, Borelli went on to work for Philip Morris for twenty years, taking advantage of night classes to earn a college degree.

It took her eleven years, she said, but she was the first college graduate in her family.

It wasn't until later that Borelli became involved with current events and public policy. Her entire life, she explained, she voted Democrat like her parents without much consideration for what it actually meant. But she quickly realized that she didn't agree with the values and lines the party espoused.

(Photo via FreedomWorks)

"I knew I was not a victim," she said. "Not a victim. Because I had God-given talents to get me ahead in this world. I had a brain. I could think. I can make my own decisions and choices, thank you very much."

And she has not stopped promoting the cause of liberty since, working all hours of the day every day of the week to get the message out.

"Because in American politics, we have two choices: dependency, or independence."

"I may have never made it on the cover of Vogue magazine," she concluded with a smile, "but I made it on the cover of my own book."

The day was filled with what are sure to be treasured moments, in addition to moving speeches. At Pat Gray and Stu Burguiere's morning question and answer session -- in addition to discovering a few new things about Glenn Beck -- the audience watched a five-year-old girl ask Burguiere with all sincerity: "Does...Do you like being a new daddy?"

It's a moment she and her parents will likely remember for many years.

People who drove over twenty hours or flew in late from London could be seen at both the Grand and Little America hotels where the events are taking place, many with their families and in some form of red, white, and blue clothing for Independence Day.

They celebrated the day with fellow patriots, many stopping in to see the breathtaking history museum Beck has assembled worth over $35 million (but more on that to come...)

Check out our complete coverage of Man in the Moon so far, here.

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