What About the Other Half of the Country?

Re “Bush’s Neglect of Consensus May Be Kindling Fiery Senate Showdown,” column, April 11: Ronald Brownstein has it right when he asserts President Bush and the Republicans are leading only half the country. In doing this, they are effectively promoting their party as the one that “stands for something.” Certainty and resolve mean everything to Bush and his followers even though the paths they take may not be what a consensus of Americans want. This is clear in the current debate about Social Security.

The Democratic Party is criticized for “not standing for anything.” I think this is a misreading of how the party differs from the GOP. Long before President Clinton declared the end of the era of big government, Democrats had abandoned their tendencies toward a consistent social welfare or even socialist ideology. Instead, the Democrats now lean toward a pragmatic, problem-solving approach. So they easily can be criticized for not standing for anything compared to the Republicans who consistently tout privatization at home and unilateralism abroad.

Americans need to sort out what type of government they want: Republican certainty or Democratic pragmatism.

Carl Martz

Redlands

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Brownstein’s column clearly points out the cynical reality of the political calculus. Bush is not really the president of the United States, he is the president of the voting Republicans of the U.S.

Raymond Melrose

Los Angeles