To the Editor:
Re “Sanders Is Not Doing the Democrats Any Favors,” by Matthew Yglesias (Opinion guest essay, Aug. 10):
But he is. Bernie Sanders is helping to open up a tired and broken party structure. The Democrats are terrible messengers. The economy is terrifying. Health care for all is pretty straightforward. My son, daughter-in-law and grandson are paying nearly $3,000 a month for health insurance for all of them. Affordable housing is a contradiction in terms. The war in Iran is illegal. We have funded a war in Gaza that is obscene.
The world is literally on fire. And the Democratic leadership is doing too little. Let’s stop labeling (left-wing, right-wing, socialist, nationalist) and start looking at policy ideas. What would F.D.R. do?
It’s time for my generation (I’m a boomer) to hand over the reins and enjoy retirement. Even Bernie needs to use his pulpit from outside the Senate.
Josh Conescu Great Barrington, Mass.
To the Editor:
As a centrist Democrat who recognizes the imperative of ending Republican control of Congress in November, I am deeply concerned about the electoral impact of the insurgent left’s ascendancy during this election cycle. In virtually any other context, I would welcome the continuing debate between moderates and progressives, which I view as a healthy reflection of the diversity and openness that define the Democratic Party relative to the monolithic G.O.P.
I am deeply concerned, however, that Democrats risk snatching defeat from the jaws of victory because this debate is distracting the party from what should be its overriding objective this fall: defeating as many Trump-enabling Republicans as possible.
Mark Godes Chelsea, Mass.
To the Editor:
Of course Bernie Sanders isn’t doing the Democratic Party any favors. He isn’t a Democrat; he just started playing one on TV when he decided to run for president. These days, he caucuses with the party because trying to get his sweeping platform of progressive policies enacted as an independent is a hopeless proposition.
The Democratic establishment is no more in love with him than it was in 2016, when it recoiled in horror from the idea of him as its nominee.
Republicans, by contrast, love the man, to whom they can point as evidence that the Democratic Party has gone communist. Never mind that Mr. Sanders and his followers aren’t communists; facts that don’t support President Trump’s interests are simply dismissed as “fake” by Mr. Trump and his MAGA cultists.
If Mr. Sanders really wanted to help the Democrats, he’d retire from politics. He won’t.
Eric B. Lipps Staten Island
Vance’s Crude Behavior
To the Editor:
Re “With Online Taunts, Vance Abandons Decorum,” by Peter Baker (White House Memo, front page, Aug. 10):
Like Vice President JD Vance, I was born and raised in the Midwest. I’m the only child of Catholic parents: a factory worker and a stay-at-home mom. I was taught not to use the word “hate,” as in “I hate him/her,” and not to use the word “stupid,” as in “he/she is stupid.”
Mr. Vance came to Catholicism much later than I did, but surely he learned that one of the core tenets of Christianity is to love your neighbor as yourself. Crudely criticizing and insulting others — in public no less — certainly has no place in a Christian lifestyle.
Obviously, his boss takes the prize for rudeness and foul language, but shouldn’t Mr. Vance try to rise above that? What kind of example is he setting for younger men and women who aspire to public office? What kind of example is he setting for his children?
Lynn Jacobs San Francisco
A Dangerous Tool for ICE
To the Editor:
Re “ICE Orders Gloves for Officers That Deliver Electric Shocks” (news article, Aug. 13):
These gloves grant a license to law enforcement agents to harm anyone they suspect of anything. The electric shock, as described in the article, is painful enough to take a person to the ground.
This is one more step away from honest policing and toward control of any person law enforcement deems objectionable, from someone who uses bad language against masked and armed ICE agents to peaceful political demonstrators on the wrong side of the authorities.
I am horrified.
Thomas Zaslavsky Binghamton, N.Y.
The post Is Bernie Sanders Helping or Hurting the Democrats? appeared first on New York Times.
