To the Editor:

Re “How Democrats Can Stop Losing” (Op-Ed, June 14):

I couldn’t agree more with Bernie Sanders. The Democratic Party’s timid approach and efforts to “pass” as moderate Republicans has pushed the party further and further to the right, and given a choice between real Republicans and pale copies, voters have understandably chosen the former.

However, I do not think that simply moving to the left will be enough. Since the Reagan years, Republicans have owned the ideological playing field, and Democrats have been perpetually on the defensive as a “tax and spend, anti-job, pro-globalization, gun-hating, tree-hugging, minority-favoring, politically correct, anti-male, anti-white, out-of-touch elite.” We have lost the battle for the hearts and minds of Americans because we have been forced to fight it on the Republicans’ terms.

When working-class voters elect a billionaire businessman to represent their interests, it is clear that our voice is not being heard. It is time not only to reclaim the left half of the political spectrum, but also to better explain why our position is the correct and moral one. Why, for example, being concerned with the environment is not frivolous, and why being sensitive to sexism and racism is not silly political correctness. We must set the terms of our own political discourse and not constantly play defense.

IRVIN CEMIL SCHICK

NEWTON, MASS.

To the Editor:

As a therapist I know that a crucial step in not repeating a self-destructive act is to acknowledge and grieve it. Bernie Sanders does the opposite. He fails to acknowledge how his denigration of Hillary Clinton as controlled by Wall Street turned off and discouraged just enough younger and marginal voters to tip the election to Donald Trump.