After FDR's relentless acidic ridicule of Republicans and aggressive progressive policies were so successful that they knocked the GOP out of control of Congress for 40 years and Dwight Eisenhower had to run as a progressive just to get elected, we abandoned that course and began following Clinton and the "New Democrats," who thought we should join Republicans in deregulating everything and conquering the planet in the name of Exxon.

Let's review what has happened since:

The middle class has shrunken steadily for 30 years, while the wealthy have taken more and more and more—to the extent that they've actually taken our democracy now.

We were lied into a war that murdered, maimed, or permanently displaced 5 million people and has resulted in endless chaos and loss. The entire global economy almost collapsed due to bipartisan bank and Wall Street deregulation. The planet is dying.

Democrats have lost both houses of Congress, the Supreme Court, a thousand seats across the land, and Donald J. Trump is president.

If your answer to that is "stay the course! A thousand points of light!" you are the problem.

You chose two things to specifically attack: Public financing and single-payer health care. The former is the one thing that could fix this corruption; the latter is a politically popular way to cover everyone's health care for much less money.

Leonard, please quit. You're terrible at policy and worse at politics.

Sean R. Shealy

San Luis Obispo