Letters to the Editor for February 19, 2020

Dems need candidate who appeals to both sides

Democrats say their primary goal is to defeat Donald Trump in November. If so, then Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren supporters need to “get real” and focus on the minority of voters in 2016 that swung the Electoral College to elect Donald Trump. How many of the estimated 1 million or more workers in the greatly expanded natural gas industry are going to vote to immediately shut down that industry? How many of the estimated 750,000 or more workers for heath insurance companies are going to vote to immediately abolish private health insurance?

Certainly there is wide support to fight climate change, to make health care in the U.S. more affordable, and to address the issues of economic inequality. But it is a political fantasy to believe that this can be done instantly and unilaterally by a new president.

Defeating Trump to restore our national values in the White House will require a candidate appealing to all the electorate, not just a ideological minority, no matter how passionate they may be about their visions of immediate changes. If Trump is re-elected because the Democratic candidate is seen to be too radical, or is perceived to be an immediate threat to the jobs (and therefore family welfare) of too many voters, then all the worthy goals of the Sanders and Warren supporters are for naught. Democrats need to seriously focus on a candidate that can beat Trump by attracting the needed votes of moderate independents and Republicans.

Jon Nowlin

Carson City