DEMOCRATS
For the past 10 years, the congressional Democratic Party has done exactly what Michael Barone (“The Democrats’ Death Wish,” Aug. 11) said the party should do. House and Senate Democrats have watched silently while Republican administrations have dismantled much of what previous administrations built.
In legislation, Democrats have substituted Republican redistributionism, from bottom and middle to top, for its historical support of top to bottom redistribution. They have transferred loyalty from the constituencies who elect them to the contributors who fund them. Democrats can’t even exploit a good scandal because ones such as BCCI and the S&Ls; involve as many Democrats as Republicans.
Mr. Barone’s solution is the problem. Political success will come to the Democratic Party when it provides a choice, not an echo.
BOB CLARK JR.
Los Angeles
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