To the Editor:
Re “The Democrats Need a Project 2029,” by Joseph Heath (Opinion guest essay, March 4):
This essay should be required reading for all Democrats at every level. Professor Heath’s insightful ideas should be fundamental to the Democrats’ planning for the next election cycle. Much debate has surrounded how they should respond to the crisis we find ourselves in.
It is clear that there needs to be a two-pronged effort:
1. Push back and resist every damaging idea that President Trump and Elon Musk put forward.
2. Set out a clear future agenda that does not support an unpopular status quo, but demonstrates an understanding of problems within government and identifies ways to address them sensibly and thoughtfully.
Our country has been severely damaged in the last few weeks. The chaos that Mr. Trump has caused domestically pales next to the foreign policy he has undertaken. We have lost the trust of our allies and our position as leader of the free world. It will take generations to recover from the damage that has already been done.
Jim McManus
Glastonbury, Conn.
To the Editor:
Dear Democrats: Read “The Democrats Need a Project 2029.” As Joseph Heath writes, “The system is a mess, desperately in need of reform.”
Take a tip from the so-called Department of Government Efficiency. Write five things to improve government efficiency, put the data in a think tank, publish the results and allow the public to read the common-sense changes to public administration that you have in mind.
Perhaps hire Professor Heath as your “DOGE” leader. He has a good handle on how and where to start.
Regina Smoler
Las Vegas
To the Editor:
While ideas for government reform are welcome, they are not the primary cause of antigovernment sentiment nor a top priority for a 2029 agenda. For decades, the Republican Party, allied with the far right and the ultrawealthy, has wantonly and deceptively attacked government for political gain.
Indeed, even as Republicans cause government dysfunction — and the so-called Department of Government Efficiency makes government less efficient — they then campaign on this dysfunction.
In addition to strengthening Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid, top priorities for a 2029 agenda would include enacting voter protections, Supreme Court reform, union rights and one fair living wage, taxes on billionaires, and reproductive and other fundamental freedoms.
By communicating and organizing around this agenda supported by most Americans, we the people can win future elections and make government work for all.
Larry Ottinger
Chevy Chase, Md.
The writer, a constitutional and civil rights lawyer, is a former president of the Center for Lobbying in the Public Interest.
To the Editor:
Joseph Heath’s call for a Project 2029 to counter Project 2025 highlights a troubling trend in our politics: the rush for competing. I respectfully disagree. Politics does not need to be a contest of extremism; it could easily be one of moderation that reflects the views of the many Americans who occupy the neglected center.
Most voters today feel stranded. Many distrust President Trump but aren’t convinced he symbolizes the end of democracy. They view some corporations with skepticism but reject blanket vilification, demanding accountability rather than demonization. They believe that we should give others a hand up, not just a hand out. Neither party represents what they want, leaving them politically isolated.
Moderates of both parties could unite around a pragmatic Project 2029, acknowledging society’s flaws while celebrating its successes. In an era of partisan tantrums, a bipartisan coalition of grown-ups, skilled in compromise but firm in purpose, would stand out. The political center might not be flashy, but it’s where most Americans live and that is where real progress begins.
David Hebert
Grand Rapids, Mich.
To the Editor:
It is an especially sad time for the millions of us, a.k.a. the elderly, who will not live to see the recovery of the United States that will follow Donald Trump’s era of destruction.
We have trusted in, worked for and fought for the values that are currently undergoing wholesale slaughter by the Republican Party. Daily, we witness the effects of corrosive arrogance, greed and ignorance that undermine much of what we believe in.
Knowing that the country we cherish is being destroyed by Mr. Trump and his sycophants is an especially painful burden to those who will not see its rebirth. We can’t wait four more years; we mourn now.
Stephen Kaufman
Urbana, Ill.
Trump’s Tariff Pause
To the Editor:
Re “Tariff Whiplash as Trump Puts Levies on Hold” (front page, March 7):
President Trump’s latest pause on tariffs on Canada and Mexico reveals two things of importance. First, it shows that Mr. Trump doesn’t think things through. He gets an idea, but instead of trying to figure out what would happen if he did it, he just runs with it.
Sometimes clearer thinkers persuade him that the consequences are bad for him, and he reverses his decision. Apparently he doesn’t learn from the experience, because he has done this many times over the years. It probably also accounts for his having gone bankrupt repeatedly.
The second thing is that businesses like predictability. If they can count on a policy being in place for months if not longer, they can make decisions about, for example, whether or not to invest in a new factory or hire more employees.
But if they can’t count on its remaining in place for even a day or two, rational business leaders will hold off making investment decisions. I studied and taught about organizations for almost 50 years, and this is a durable truism.
Many have written about the damage that Mr. Trump and Elon Musk are doing to our economy, the society and Americans across the country. They don’t think things through, make huge mistakes and are slow to correct them, if at all. Among other things, they will create their own backlash.
Stephen M. Davidson
Philadelphia
The writer is an emeritus professor at the Boston University Questrom School of Business.
Removing a Black Lives Matter Mural
To the Editor:
Re “Black Lives Matter Mural Lost in Fight Over Washington Rule” (front page, March 8):
The obliteration of a Black Lives Matter mural in Washington is a depressing if sadly inevitable consequence of the current administration’s cruelly relentless efforts to remove any trace of D.E.I. and the lived realities of those who don’t conform to MAGA’s deluded vision of America.
It’s of a piece with the efforts to impose a limited perspective of U.S. history on social studies curriculums, under the guise of purportedly patriotic expression.
No one’s experience should be erased. The truthful historical narrative needs to be protected and upheld, especially when submitting to falsehoods accelerates the path to authoritarianism.
Merri Rosenberg
Ardsley, N.Y.
