Regarding Larry Benson’s Letter to the Editor (“Republicans don’t care about the common man’ Democrats aren’t much better,” published March 10), I agree with a lot of what he says about the current Republican Party. It no longer is the party represented by former Governor Dan Evans and the late Attorney General Slade Gorton, who both went on later to become U.S. Senators and worked well with Democrats.

Back In the 1960’s, Dan Evans was instrumental in ridding the Republican Party of right-wing extremists, while Barry Goldwater remained silent on the issue. The Republican Party needs men with that same strength of character as Dan Evans to bring it back to reasonable policies and not be a party extolling one extremist individual.

As for Mr. Benson’s comments about the Democrats, I don’t think it’s quite as bad as his view. There’s a lot of good to be said for the stimulus bill that President Biden and the Democrats have pushed through Congress. Although they tried to work across the aisle, it was more important to get help to our citizens than to kowtow to a dysfunctional Republican Party. It pays to be vigilant but the Democrats look to be headed in a positive direction, especially for those in need and suffering from the pandemic.

Donna Smith

Enumclaw