To the editor:

I am writing this in response to an opinion piece in the Nov. 10 issue titled “Amid Democrats’ White house win, a sobering fact.” The piece laments that the Democratic Party has forgotten about white working-class nongraduates; the victims of globalization who lost their unions, jobs, health care and pensions. If you are the author or you felt the piece resonate with you, I’d like to ask you to recall several things.

I’d like you to recall which major party has been staunchly anti-union. (It’s the Republican Party.) I’d like you to recall which major party has pushed for universal health care. (It’s the Democratic Party.) I’d like you to recall which major party has focused on defending and expanding unemployment safety nets, including the idea of a universal basic income to address increasing automation. (It’s the Democratic Party.) I’d like you to recall which major party recently pushed through tax reform that eliminated credits and deductions on which middle and working class people relied. (It’s the Republican Party.) I’d like you to recall which major party has pushed for an increase to the minimum wage as inflation renders so many hard-working people struggling to make ends meet. (It’s the Democratic Party.) And, since the piece explicitly mentions 9/11 responders, I’d like you to recall the United States Senate majority leader who vehemently resisted funding 9/11 responder health care bills until the comedian Jon Stewart attracted enough media attention to the stalling. (It’s the Kentucky Republican, Mitch McConnell.) The Democratic Party has not forgotten about white working-class nongraduates. Rather, white working-class nongraduates — blinded by reactionary rhetoric and fear mongering — have lost the ability to recognize which major party has never stopped fighting for them.

John B. Huttlinger III

Lake Placid