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To the Editor:

Re Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez on Why Democrats Talking Points Are Not Enough (news article, nytimes.com, Nov. 21):

A.O.C.s youth and lack of experience are showing. She is talking as if far-left progressives are the only people in the world. In fact, the voting public is made up of a majority of centrists and conservatives. That the Democratic Party is at war with itself further erodes the confidence of the American people.

The country was badly divided after the election. Only a year has gone by, and it has not been particularly successful for the Democrats. What is needed is for the Democrats to show they can govern and get things done. They have done so little in part because the progressives are acting like greedy children and insisting that they want the whole cake, and they want it now.

If this continues the Democrats will lose their majority and any chance of even moderate change. They will in fact see a concerted effort to roll back whatever changes have been enacted. It will be a self-inflicted wound.

Bruce HigginsSan Diego

To the Editor:

Re Democratic Socialists Need to Take a Hard Look in the Mirror, by Fredrik deBoer (Opinion guest essay, nytimes.com, Nov. 16):

The biggest problem Americans have with socialism is the word itself. After almost a century of Republicans using it as a cudgel to batter Democrats even Democrats who couldnt be further from socialism is it any wonder that the word gets no traction in this country?

Socialist ideas are deeply embedded in this country; the police, military, sanitation are socialist institutions, but fortunately nobody calls them that. The best thing socialists can do to help themselves is retire the name.

I would also question Mr. deBoers assumption that Americans twice rejected Bernie Sanders because of his socialist ideas. The ideas are, as he says, quite popular. Bernie lost by being Bernie a deeply flawed candidate.

Socialism is really just another word for government. The Build Back Better plan is based on the idea that government is ready and able to help its citizenry. Id call that socialism, but never out loud.

Andy EdelsteinBerkley, Mich.

To the Editor:

Re Bill Clinton Saved His Presidency. Heres How Biden Can, Too (Opinion guest essay, nytimes.com, Nov. 8):

I could not agree more with Mark Penn and Andrew Stein. I do not believe that Senator Bernie Sanders and Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez represent the core values of most Democrats, and I count myself a lifelong Democrat.

I used to think that Senators Joe Manchin and Kyrsten Sinema were outliers, even obstructionists, but I no longer feel that way. It is Bernie Sanders and A.O.C. who are the obstructionists.

I am a white male in my early 70s, a Vietnam veteran, a retired police deputy chief, a former New Hampshire state representative, and a moderate Democrat who never believed that throwing money at a problem was an effective means of solving it.

Here is my recipe for how the Democrats can maintain majorities in the House and the Senate in 2022, and win the White House in 2024:

1) Start controlling the message! Pound the airways every day, the way Republicans would, touting the infrastructure bill just passed.

2) Have President Biden appear regularly at White House news conferences, answering questions and educating the public on what the Democrats are doing for the country.

3) Please, for the sake of the country, move firmly away from extreme progressive platforms. Communities do not want to see their police forces defunded. They want to see the southern border dilemma resolved. They want to see more moderate spending bills. Democrats want their party to move back toward the center of the political spectrum.

Len DiSesaDresher, Pa.

To the Editor:

Re The Diminishing Democratic Majority (column, Nov. 21):

Ross Douthat writes that once Covid-era interventions are finally in the rearview mirror, it may be that the critical race theory debate recedes somewhat, ignoring 50 years of Republican electoral strategy. Issues that once defined the G.O.P., including fiscal responsibility, moral fitness and free trade, have been discarded and replaced with an endless buffet of racial grievance platters, with critical race theory simply a new menu item.

As with previous boogeymen of busing, crime and affirmative action, critical race theory feeds into the G.O.P. story line that the economic prospects of hardworking white citizens are being undermined by an increasingly diverse Democratic Party. With nothing tangible left to offer its voters, critical race theory scaremongering is now firmly within the canon of Republican scripture.

Eric R. CareyArlington, Va.

To the Editor:

Re F.B.I. Tracks Threats Made to Personnel at Schools (news article, Nov. 17):

Attorney General Merrick Garland did the right thing when he ordered the F.B.I. to create a threat tag to track incidents of harassment of teachers by some parents.

When people issue death threats to teachers and their families, and when they stalk those teachers and their families menacingly, thats terrorism. School personnel have had to hire protection from these terrorists.

It would be an act of cowardice for the Justice Department to bend to Republicans objections to this new policy.

Myrna LueckYpsilanti, Mich.

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Opinion | What Is the Winning Formula for Democrats? - The New York Times