Letters: Democrats already moved to the right. It failed.

It was with a complete lack of surprise that I came across James Briggs’ column saying that Democrats need to “move to the right.”

Opinion: I’m a Democrat who won in Indiana. We need a rebrand.

Readers may find themselves puzzled to hear that a Democratic Party that ran a Republican as their gubernatorial candidate remains insufficiently conservative. But a core dogma of Briggs’ marketable brand of politics is that what the generic American voter wants is a centrist. If Democrats are losing, it must be because they are not moderate enough, and thus they must move right.

But let me offer a counterpoint. If we ignore the rhetoric and just look at the material reality of what became policy, Joe Biden’s presidency enacted this centrist vision of moderate governance and it has been enthusiastically rejected by voters. Biden leaves office a failure, replaced by the only figure in politics who is more unpopular.

I agree that Democrats need a new vision for the party. But voters have already told us that the Briggs vision ain’t it. They’re speaking. Will you listen?

Christopher Benson lives in Indianapolis.