Strengthening Democracy: the People United Will Never Be Defeated

Floor Speech

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Ms. BALINT. Mr. Speaker, it is an honor to serve with Representative Ramirez and to speak here tonight about an issue that is incredibly important to me, and that is the health and strength of democracy.

When I ran for Congress, the issue I heard the most about was just that, the health and the strength of the democracy.

Yes, of course, Vermonters care about particular issues for our district--housing, the workforce crisis, the mental health crisis, all of these things--but they said more than anything, they are worried about the health of the democracy.

I came to the job having come up through the Vermont State Senate, and before that, I was a teacher and tried to instill in my students the importance of being involved in the democracy to keep replenishing it with the energy and attention it requires.

What I have noticed over the last few years is that there is, indeed, a cynicism creeping in, as my colleague mentioned earlier, and cynicism has a corrosive effect, not just on the democracy but on our own health and stability and the health of our communities.

It is, in fact, the voice of the status quo. It is about convincing people that you can't actually make change, so why even try, that it is futile.

The stakes are so incredibly high. I will tell you that my family knows firsthand that democracies don't fail overnight. My grandfather was killed in the Holocaust, and I grew up with the understanding that people can be horribly cruel to one another and can perpetuate horrors upon individuals and families when the law does not protect the most vulnerable and when people turn away from each other and demonize each other. I can tell you in earnest that we have seen this in this country in the last few years grow to a fever pitch of dehumanizing and demonizing our fellow Americans.

I see it in my committees, whether it is attacking immigrants or migrants, attacking the LGBTQ community, or attacking the poor.

It is not about coming together as Americans and finding common cause with other Americans. It is often about making people the scapegoats.

Democracies fail little by little as our rights are stripped away from us, as democratic norms are upended, and as people are scapegoated.

My parents never took for granted the rights and privileges provided to us by the U.S. Constitution and that we must be vigilant and take our responsibility of supporting and protecting the Constitution seriously.

I was very concerned, coming up on almost 2 years ago when I started in Congress, because I knew that 139 Members of this body did not vote to certify a free and fair election. Of those 139, 124 ran for reelection, and 118 are still serving in Congress. They serve with us in committees, and we have to see them on the floor, people who did not support a free and fair election and the peaceful transfer of power. This sickens me.

In moments when I am home in Vermont, it is very difficult to convey to my constituents what it feels like sometimes to be here as a public servant supporting the democracy, supporting the ideals that supposedly we all hold so dear, and to serve alongside people who still will not admit that Joe Biden is the rightful winner of the 2020 election. It should outrage all of us.

How can we make the case to our children and to my former students that democracy is something to protect, that it is sacred, that we all have a stake in making sure it is healthy when there are Members of Congress who still will not admit that Joe Biden is the rightful winner of the 2020 election?

We must commit, all of us, to rising above this dangerous nonsense because we all know the truth. We do. We know the truth. As we head into another election season, I know what I fear. I fear that once again we will be faced with a critical moment of courage, and that some will fail that test.

When I heard that the topic tonight was about strengthening the democracy, I said: Absolutely, I will be there. None of these things-- strengthening our voting rights, improving our representation, making sure that we have campaign finance reform, supporting our communities, and on and on--can happen if we do not have a commitment from the people in this Chamber to admit the rightful winner of an election and to stand in this Chamber and certify those election results.

I look forward to seeing some courage, regardless of the outcome. I hope that I am not, once again, deeply, deeply disappointed and disgusted by the lack of courage and fortitude of those who say that they support the Constitution, the rule of law, and this great democracy.

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