Letter: Roberts' approach is why Democrats fail

Posted Tuesday, June 20, 2017 5:24 pm

To the editor:

It is amazing to read the column by Steve and Cokie Roberts (Eagle oped, Friday, June 16) that blames the failures of Democrats in 2016 on Bernie Sanders. The Roberts warn that moving in a more progressive direction would be a disaster. They blame the loss by Mrs. Clinton on Sen. Sanders and his followers.

Let's face facts: Voters rejected not just Mrs. Clinton, but also her politics of austerity, small government, and attachment to the large banks and Wall Street. Democrats have lost the White House, the Senate, the House of Representatives, the Supreme Court and nearly a thousand state legislative seats in the last decade by following the advice of the Roberts and the political consultants. Nearly a third of the states have a government completely controlled by Republicans. All this is the result of moving to the right, advocating the cutting of government services and paying homage to the one percent while paying lip service to the 99 percent.

Ought we to blame this on Sen Sanders and his followers? The Roberts say that we can't afford Sanders' programs. Are we really too poor as a nation to offer free public education like we used to? Are we too poor to offer health care as a right like almost every other industrial nation? When Congress wants to add $54 billion to the defense budget no one says we are too poor. Ten thousand more U.S. troops to Afghanistan — where is the money going to come from?

Mr. and Mrs. Roberts don't want to face the fact that the economics and politics of corporate Democrats and their advocates have been rejected by the voters. If the Democrats' strategy to take back Congress means more pro-corporate politics, then the party will fail.

Insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result. Following the Roberts' advice has been tried and it has failed.

Russell Freedman,

Lanesborough