To the Editor:
Stuart Levine, those are good questions. Here’s why many people vote Democratic:
- Public education: Most Democrats support increasing investment in public schools because they see education as an investment in our future. That doesn’t necessarily mean raising everyone’s taxes. Funding can come from reprioritizing budgets, closing tax loopholes or targeted state and local revenue measures.
- Affordable housing: Democrats generally support building more housing by reforming zoning laws, encouraging higher-density development where appropriate, converting unused commercial buildings into housing and providing incentives for affordable housing. The goal is to increase supply where it makes sense.
- Healthcare: The focus is on lowering costs by allowing Medicare to negotiate drug prices, expanding preventive care, increasing competition where possible and making insurance more affordable. Most Democrats support preserving private insurance while strengthening the Affordable Care Act.
- Law enforcement: “Defund the police” was never the position of most Democratic leaders. Most support well-funded police departments along with better training, accountability and mental health resources. Virtually no mainstream Democrat believes rapists, murderers or child molesters should not be arrested, prosecuted and imprisoned.
- Prisons: Eliminating prisons is not a mainstream Democratic position. Most support prison reform to reduce repeat crime, improve rehabilitation and reserve the toughest sentences for violent offenders while keeping dangerous criminals behind bars.
- Student loans: Democrats generally believe that some borrowers deserve relief because college costs have increased dramatically and many were left with overwhelming debt. Even within the Democratic Party, there is disagreement about how much relief is appropriate and who should qualify.
- Foreign policy: Democrats generally support maintaining strong alliances such as NATO and helping allies when it serves U.S. national security interests. There is debate over individual conflicts, but not over abandoning our allies altogether.
- Taxes: Democrats generally support asking high-income earners and large corporations to pay a greater share before raising taxes on middle-income families. They also argue that reducing wasteful spending should be part of the conversation.
People vote Democratic for many reasons: protecting Social Security and Medicare, expanding access to healthcare, strengthening public education, addressing climate change, protecting reproductive rights, supporting workers and labor unions and believing government has an important role in creating opportunity and reducing economic inequality.
Reasonable people can disagree on these issues. That’s what elections are for. The important thing is to understand each party’s actual positions rather than assuming the views of its most outspoken members represent everyone.
Janet Jones
Village of Santiago