LETTER: No differences between Democrats and Republicans?

I know that many young Americans are understandably upset that Bernie Sanders has ended his campaign for president (Thursday Review-Journal). Some have even voiced the mistaken belief that there is no difference between the Republican and Democratic parties.

But I want to remind those of you who may feel this way of just a few of the progressive policies and organizations supported by Democrats over the past 100 years: Beginning in 1920 there is women’s suffrage, the federal minimum wage, Social Security, Medicare, the Civil Rights Act, the Voting Rights Act, the Fair Housing Act, the Equal Rights Amendment, abortion rights, Head Start, Planned Parenthood, and the Affordable Care Act.

Democrats continue to support progressive policies such as raising the minimum wage, providing child care for parents and tuition-free college. But Republicans typically vote against all of these progressive proposals. There is a difference.