Advertisement

SKIP ADVERTISEMENT

Letters

A Game Plan for Democrats (Actually, 16 of Them)

Credit...Dominick Reuter/Reuters

To the Editor:

“I am not a member of any organized party — I am a Democrat,” Will Rogers said more than 80 years ago. His words still have a ring of truth. If Democrats are to retake control of one or both houses of Congress (and ultimately the White House), they must work together, even if they do not always agree on particular issues.

Democrats can unify on a number of principles: a) We are the party of Main Street, not of Wall Street. b) Honest government is essential. c) Government should promote change to benefit ordinary Americans before the rich. d) A humane immigration policy is right. e) We do not yet have full equality among our citizens, but that is a goal we should pursue.

A party expressing such values can appeal to a large majority of our citizens, and speak for them against the forces that have degraded the nation in so many ways.

JONATHAN J. MARGOLIS
BROOKLINE, MASS.

To the Editor:

Democrats should fight dirty, play dirty, beg, borrow, steal, do whatever it takes. “When they go low, we go high” doesn’t work. Playing nice got us to this point with President Trump. This country may not survive another Republican Congress, so Democrats have to do what it takes.

Democrats also need to infuse the party with new blood, especially women and people of color. No more Bernie, Hillary and Biden.

Democrats need to be the party of the future. Republicans are the party of rich old white men.

Then play dirty, Democrats. Yes, go after Mr. Trump. He is widely despised among everyone I know. Just take our country back.

SHELLY LEITHEISER
MARIETTA, GA.

To the Editor:

Democrats should focus on the real problem — congressional Republicans. They are the ones hurting Americans, slyly enacting cruel legislation while the media focuses on the latest outrage by President Trump.

So, don’t mention Mr. Trump’s name at all. Instead, show each voter how his very own representative or senator has hurt him personally. Show him the tax “cut” math — how many taxpayers’ taxes will increase, conveniently only after the midterms. Show him how the vote to repeal Obamacare’s individual mandate will increase his premiums.

Democrats must constantly press concrete examples of Republican-caused harms, and hammer this message home relentlessly: Your Republican representative in Congress has not, does not and never will help you. He or she does not care about you.

MARIE JORDAN, OAK PARK, ILL.

To the Editor:

The varying Russia scandals are difficult to follow even for well-informed people spending a good deal of their time on the multiple threads. They are confusing and — for many voters the Democrats need — beside the point. Let Robert Mueller do his business and support him throughout. Otherwise restrain yourself. There may turn out to be not much there. There certainly aren’t many votes.

ERIC WEINBERGER
CAMBRIDGE, MASS.

To the Editor:

As a progressive member of the party who has consistently felt dismissed and belittled by mainstream Democrats, I would strongly recommend that they treat the progressives as though we matter, and that our opinions and positions have value. To disregard or ridicule our interests and then to insist that we must vote Democratic is demoralizing. We have enough trouble motivating people to vote without treating them as though their only importance to the party is pulling the Democratic lever.

It’s true that both sides of the party need to compromise and work together in order to win, but so far “compromise” seems to mean “progressive people, do as you’re told.”

T. COLE, BOSTON

To the Editor:

I have been a registered Democrat since being able to vote, and I come from a very progressive family. Nonetheless, the Democrats’ persistent pushing of identity politics has made it nearly untenable for me to vote for my party in 2018 — yes, even in the face of Trumpism. The Democrats need to ease off the “cis white male bashing” and foster a narrative not based on identity politics, lest they lose their centrist base to appease a vocal radical fringe. Continuing doing what the party is currently doing is not convincing any middle-class and poor Rust Belt voters that we are the party that is best for them. We can’t afford another “deplorables” gaffe in 2018.

MARC GRIFFIN
ST. GEORGE, UTAH

To the Editor:

The Democrats need to focus on a positive, inclusive and simple issue. I would suggest “fairness,” which strongly resonates with most people, including with many Trump voters who constantly complain that the system is rigged. Many people on the right feel that they have been left behind while others (immigrants, minorities, “welfare queens,” etc.) are cutting the line and unfairly using the government to their advantage. This anger needs to be redirected toward the real source of unfairness: the rich who take advantage of the poor and the middle class. The Democrats should above all explain as clearly as possible the causal link between the Republican tax cuts (very generous to the rich) and the Republican budget (very cruel to the poor and middle class).

PATRICK SINGY, NISKAYUNA, N.Y.

To the Editor:

When I was growing up (I’m 71), the Democratic Party was a bold, brash big tent of diversity representing the working class, bursting at the seams with a plethora of viable and colorful candidates. It was the party that conceived Social Security, Medicare and the Civil Rights Act and was willing to fight for those programs, damn the consequences, because they were right and just. Flash forward to now.

The Democratic Party needs to begin by replacing the likes of the House minority leader, Nancy Pelosi, the Senate minority leader, Chuck Schumer, and the Democratic National Committee chairman, Tom Perez, with new, exciting, dramatic figures. It needs to persuade young Democrats to run for leadership roles and national office. It needs to fully re-establish itself as the party of the working class and the forgotten, willing to pursue its ideals, damn the consequences.

GREG JOSEPH, SUN CITY, ARIZ.

To the Editor:

To prevail in the midterm elections, Democrats need to get practical about border security, prevention of illegal immigration and sensible legal immigration. American citizens and legal immigrants have suffered enough from a lack of all three. The Republicans get this issue. The Democrats do not.

The Democrats will have to change their tune on this or they will continue to be in the minority at the national level, even if the Republicans are on the wrong side of almost every other issue.

JANE LANGSETH
COLTS NECK, N.J.

To the Editor:

Democrats need to own up to the reality that Donald Trump got elected despite his personal flaws, not because of them. Voters have known since early 2016 that he says mean, ridiculous, asinine things, yet they tolerated him because he spoke about real problems affecting real people. Expressing outrage at his daily transgressions does nothing but remove Democrats from the people they need to win back — Trump voters who supported Democrats in past elections.

KYLE DAVIS, HONOLULU

To the Editor:

If the Democrats do not welcome “pro-life” candidates and planks into their party, they are ceding millions of well-educated voters of conscience who see abortion as a primary issue. So many people ignored President Trump’s shortcomings because he said he was anti-abortion, even though most of his life he was pro-choice. The entire Democratic agenda is probably more pro-life than the Republican one because of its emphasis on health care, safety net programs and eradicating poverty. Yet abortion will be the deciding issue for many voters and a test of the inclusiveness needed for Democrats to win.

(REV.) ALEXANDER M. SANTORA
HOBOKEN, N.J.

To the Editor:

Looking toward the 2018 midterms, Democrats have two clear advantages: a uniquely corrosive president with dismal approval ratings, and the historic trend of midterms swinging toward the opposition party. Offsetting these advantages, however, is the leftward march the party has taken since the Obama years, in which identity politics (transgender bathrooms, protecting illegal immigrants, fighting “white privilege”) and welfare-state economics (Bernie Sanders, Elizabeth Warren) have come to dominate the party’s message. The result has been a party adored by coastal progressive states, but disconnected from much of the rest of the country. (More than one-third of House Democrats come from just three states: California, New York and Massachusetts.)

There is nothing wrong with leading on progressive values, but for Democrats to win nationally they must first win back the country’s moderate center. They can start by repositioning themselves not as the party of post-white America (in a country still over 72 percent white), but of all Americans. And they should certainly never refer to Republican tax plans that allow most Americans to keep more of their own money as “Armageddon” (as did the House Democratic leader, Nancy Pelosi).

It is not too late for Democrats to radically alter their appeal to the broader American electorate. If they do, all Americans will benefit from a true national debate over issues and ideas.

STUART GOTTLIEB, NEW YORK

The writer, a former Democratic policy adviser and speechwriter in the Senate, teaches international affairs at Columbia.

To the Editor:

To be successful in November, Democrats need to make clear whom we are fighting for: every person, in every community. The anguish of a mother who lost her son to gun violence in Chicago is not so different from the pain of the father who lost his daughter to opioids in West Virginia. Our dreams are inextricably linked as well. Wherever we come from, we believe that every kid deserves a quality education. We believe that a job is about both financial security and a sense of dignity. We support Dreamers and laid-off coal miners. We demand justice for women, and we demand that our veterans get the mental health treatment they need and deserve. Every person counts. Every community counts.

Democrats must fight for them all. Winning that fight is about more than winning elections. It’s about providing opportunities where none seem to exist, and hope in places filled with despair. It’s about summoning the spirit that compelled our party to champion the New Deal, the Great Society and the credo of Yes, We Can. If we find that spirit again, there are no limits on what is possible for our party, and for the future of our country.

JACK A. DIMATTEO
DEERFIELD, ILL.

To the Editor:

Democrats must stop playing the victim — even those who may actually be victims, for we all know how unfair life can be — and must drop the politically impractical emphasis on identity politics. Democrats must stress policy and politics rather than personalities and prejudice, from the president on down.

Democrats must focus on what works for the bottom 90 percent, rather than demonizing the top 10 percent. Most people, wisely or not, believe they can become wealthier. Advocating what works for most people is far more effective than merely blasting the well off.

Democrats need to stress the sheer volume of votes needed to overcome gerrymandering, voter suppression and other tools so effectively used by the G.O.P.

Most of all, Democrats must appeal to the vast majority of voters who are either center-left or center-right.

MICHELLE NOLAN
BELLINGHAM, WASH.

To the Editor:

Dear Democrats:

You want our votes? Show us clearly what you would do if you regained the majority in Congress. Prepare a detailed counterprogram for us, as Newt Gingrich did with his Contract With America in 1994.

Have a plan for health care like Medicare for all. Specify what you will do to make sure we have clean air and water, worker safety, good transportation and better infrastructure. Craft a fair immigration agenda. Show us a real tax reform that helps the middle class, the motor of our economy. There are so many good ideas: a carbon tax, a financial transaction tax to fund necessary programs. Fight poverty. Address climate change. Help women reach real equality.

No slogans — we want an evidence-based plan. Show that you are different, that you are not for the 1 percent only. Be the populist that President Trump failed to be.

MARIE MATTHEWS
SAN PEDRO, CALIF.

To the Editor:

President Trump is bold and strong. Democrats, on the other hand, are careful and weak. The Affordable Care Act is a mess. Most people, except the insurance industry and its friends, want Medicare for all. We’re sick of milquetoast Democrats. Support single-payer health care, raising taxes on the rich, taxing Wall Street transactions and making public higher education free. Support labor unions, paid parental leave, the Equal Rights Amendment and renewable energy. Bring the United States into the 21st century!

Don’t waste time going after Mr. Trump; everyone knows what he’s about already. Democrats need to be more than the lesser of two evils. Be something we can be proud of, something that will motivate us to get out and vote.

JOAN E. FRIEDENBERG
BOYNTON BEACH, FLA.

Follow The New York Times Opinion section on Facebook and Twitter (@NYTopinion), and sign up for the Opinion Today newsletter.

A version of this article appears in print on  , Section SR, Page 8 of the New York edition with the headline: A Game Plan for Democrats. Order Reprints | Today’s Paper | Subscribe

Advertisement

SKIP ADVERTISEMENT