Editor, Manteca Bulletin;

In the letter posted on Saturday from the president of the South San Joaquin Republicans, Frank Aquila, titled “Those who believe in God are not on the fringe,” I would like to add to that “but those on the fringe will use God for their own gain.” Aquila is a representative of a bankrupt political party who now can only try and wrap itself in the flag and the bible, as opposed to rolling up their sleeves and working with people to get through the mess that we need to clean up.

There is no debate about religion, due to each church’s different focus in God’s words; they follow those that speak to them the strongest. The President of the SSJ Republican Party chose to intertwine Old and New Testament prophesies with the bizarre beliefs of the fringe. His reference to a one-world currency called “Amero” and “President Obama’s stance against Israel” are fringe beliefs, which have no truth, and are only meant to monger fear. This Republican representative is attempting to gain credibility for these bizarre notions by trying to link them to religious prophecy. In his fringe-based rant, Aquila tries to raise the fear factor by painting a picture of a plot by our President that will destroy our financial sector. There’s no truth to what he says, just more mud-throwing at the wall hoping something sticks.

Using religion to scare people is wrong. Aquila could have spoken to the teachings of Jesus and spoke to how we need to be taking care of our sick and weak, but that would take health care reform, and Frank and the Republicans are against that. They say its socialism. He could have spoken about the only time in the bible that speaks about Jesus becoming angry when he was at the temple because it was taken over by the money changers, but the Republicans represent the money changers on Wall Street, so I can see why he didn’t want to talk about that one.

This representative of the Republican Party justifies his “Messiah” claim by stating it was said by “Louis Farrakhan, head of the Nation of Islam, in America, and others within the Democrat Party.” From what I see in this statement, this Republican representative is still trying to tie Muslims to our president. I believe that the Muslims have a different view of the Messiah than Christians do. He also tries to tie Mr. Farrakhan to the Democratic Party in the way he formed his sentence in saying “and others within the Democrat Party.” Louis Farrakhan is not within the Democratic Party; he is the head of the Nation of Islam. Which “others in the Democratic Party” is Frank referring to? Just more mudslinging hoping something sticks. Frank will never tell us which “others in the Democratic Party” he is referring to, or when they may have said that President Obama is the Messiah.

The fringe likes to claim that those who point out the craziness that they preach are drinking from the Democratic Kool-Aid. In actuality, those people are living in reality, and are tired of listening to the fringe’s fantasies. I agree with one statement that he makes, that he does not have faith in any political party. I don’t have faith in any political party as well, but to hear the President of the SSJ Republicans state that he does not have faith in his own party leaves one to wonder why anyone should join them. It’s the lack of leadership in the GOP that speaks the loudest. They have no economic policy, no foreign policy, no domestic policy; all they have is fear mongering. I have made the suggestion that local conservatives choose a different leader for SSJ Republican Party if they want to save their party, but the reality of it is, as long as Aquila continues to marginalize his party to fringe 3rd party status through his weak leadership, the greater the chance that Democrats will continue winning elections.