I was born in Poland, and came to America with my mom when I was six, as she sought refuge for us from communism in the Cold War. We settled in New Jersey, and I grew up here, going to public schools, playing baseball and hockey, and hoping, like most immigrants, that someday I could give something back to the country that gave me freedom. As a kid, I was inspired by my dad, a journalist and champion of progressive causes, and by my aunt, a breaker of glass ceilings who beat a Republican incumbent to serve parts of Hunterdon and Morris Counties in the New Jersey Senate. Since then I’ve worked for two great Democratic presidents, and become a leader in the fight for human rights and social justice.

As an Assistant Secretary of State under President Obama, I fought to protect America by defending our values of liberty, equality and rule of law around the world. I want to keep protecting America by fighting for those values in New Jersey, when they are threatened by a president governing far outside of American norms.

People all across New Jersey are worried about the cost and availability of health care, aging infrastructure, and the jobs we’ll have in an automated economy. There are solutions that serious people in both parties should be able to agree on. Instead, Donald Trump spends his time praising extremists, while denigrating judges, the FBI, our intelligence agencies, the press, the integrity of our elections – all the institutions that keep our leaders accountable to the people, the law, and the truth. As he distracts and divides, his allies in the Congress have been trying to take health care from seniors, women, and people with pre-existing conditions, shredding protections that keep our water and air clean, and letting Wall Street resume the practices that crashed our economy. This is not what Americans voted for last fall. We need a Congress that can check the lunacy, instead of joining in.

In my career, I’ve served on the National Security Council, working to strengthen NATO and end conflicts around the world. I fought to stop the use of torture so we could stay safe from terrorism without losing who we are. Under President Obama, I led our global fight to defend the human rights of women and LGBT people, to protect workers rights in our trade agreements, to safeguard our privacy on the internet, to root out corruption, and to stand up to dictators like Putin and Kim Jong Un. In all these efforts, I found support from Republicans as well as Democrats. I’m convinced that the vast majority of Americans want a government guided by common sense, integrity, and compassion, at home and abroad.

In that spirit, here is what I want to help get done for our district and our country: improving the Affordable Care Act rather than gutting it; fighting climate change rather than denying it; a simpler and fairer tax code for everyone, not just the few; building bridges and tunnels not walls; protecting our democracy from foreign interference and corruption; keeping America as a global leader, with our allies, for our values. With that kind of agenda, I am sure Democrats can win the 7th district – and America will stay great.

Democrat Tom Malinowski is running for Congress in the 7th District.