I couldn’t agree more strongly with Peter Burling’s “My Turn” column, “Democrats, it’s time for pragmatism” (Monitor Opinion, April 4).
He is right that Ted Cruz is every inch as xenophobic and willing to exploit hatred and fear as is his more blusterous rival, Donald Trump. We need to unite behind the candidate who bests not only Trump and Cruz in head-to-head national polls, but also comes out far ahead of Kasich.
We need to unite behind a candidate who is not tainted by the support of Bush’s Iraq policy, and who did not advocate for military intervention in Libya, creating yet another ungovernable country.
We need to unite behind a candidate who did not urge U.S. support of a military coup against a democratically elected government in Honduras, whose violence feeds the flow of migrants into the U.S., seeking asylum (2009).
Democrats should unite behind the candidate who did not bring the power of the State Department to bear in Haiti, ensuring that their minimum wage would remain $.31 an hour, rather than the $.62 that their representative body supported (also 2009).
We need a candidate who understands that free trade is as disastrous for poor people around the world as it is for the working class here at home. And let us not forget the advantages of supporting a candidate who is not under the cloud of an FBI investigation.
Bernie Sanders is the one and only logical and pragmatic choice for Democrats and independents.
CHERYL BOURASSA
Concord