I have to respectfully disagree with Barry Needalman’s response to Diane Hessan’s recent column (“It’s divide-and-conquer strategy that wins elections,’’ Letters, July 22). He claims that “both parties use the same shameful tactic of division.’’ Would that it were so. The Republicans play to their base, with nary a worry to how they look to the rest of the voters. This translates to a devoted turnout at election time. The Democrats are afraid of looking too radical and try to moderate their positions to appeal to the middle. All that happens is that they look wishy-washy, like they stand for nothing except opposition to Trump, and they alienate their base, who often choose to opt out.

The Democrats aren’t going to win the red states until the people there realize how they are being taken advantage of. They’re unlikely to lose the blue states. Trying to win the purple states by watering down their positions is obviously a losing proposition.

Steven Brooks

Whitman