Fighting authoritarianism is deeply personal to me

In this week’s debate, I was asked to share what I believed to be the the most pressing foreign policy issue facing our country ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ Good morning, {NAME}. Like many of you, I stayed up late Thursday watching the January 6th commission hearing. In a debate this week, I was asked to share what I believed to be the most pressing foreign policy issue facing our country. Here was my answer: The rise of fascism, anti-democratic forces, and the spread of authoritarianism – both abroad and at home. 17 months after armed insurrectionists attempted to overturn the results of the 2020 election in an attack on our Capitol, Americans finally have the opportunity to review the evidence and listen to the truth of what happened that day. Rewatching the footage of that day’s events, and seeing footage I had never seen before — including images of police officers being trampled and beaten — has left me feeling disgusted, outraged, and fearful for the future of our democracy. It should be a serious warning to all of us – regardless of political affiliation — that we have elected and appointed officials who are not fully cooperating with the commission. Even more disturbing, it appears that these same elected officials asked for pardons in relation to their involvement with the planning of the January 6th insurrection despite downplaying, minimizing, and dismissing the events of that day to the public. The future of our democracy depends on the action we take right now to defend it – and I want you to know that fighting the rise of authoritarianism and fascism is deeply personal to me. My grandfather was one of the more than 6 million Jews murdered in the Holocaust. I know what can happen when we take our democracy for granted, and if elected, I will uphold my oath of office by holding those accountable who were involved in the attacks on our democracy on January 6th, 2020. There must be accountability and we must never let this happen again. We cannot take our democracy for granted. The anti-democratic forces unleashed and amplified by the former President continue to define his party, and make the future of democracy in America more uncertain than ever – but I’m prepared to hold the line for our values, our principles, and our country in Congress. [Please join me by contributing $5 or more to my campaign today, and help me defend our democracy as your next Member of Congress.]( If you've saved your payment information with ActBlue Express, your donation to Becca's campaign for Congress will go through immediately: [$10]( [$15]( [$25]( [$50]( [$100]( [More]( Thank you, Becca Balint --------------------------------------------------------------- [Facebook Link]( [Twitter Link]( [Instagram Link]( Becca believes the best thoughts are not always from the loudest voices in the room. As President Pro Tem of the Vermont State Senate, she's led the charge to invest in affordable housing, fight climate change, enshrine reproductive freedom into our state's constitution, and so much more. Now, she's running for Congress to have a greater impact on more Vermonters. If you'd like to receive fewer emails and only see our most important updates, [click here.]( [DONATE]( If you'd rather not stay up to date with Becca's work, you can [unsubscribe](. Becca Balint for Vermont, P.O. Box 291, Burlington, VT `