Editor, Manteca Bulletin,

Am I the only one who found Frank Aquila’s letter almost laughable if not a pathetic attempt to apply a very bright lipstick to a pig? (“Leaving the ‘Democratic Plantation” on Nov. 8) that spewed out illogical thought were gems like this:

1. The Democratic Party has used fear, racism, and empty promises for 50 years.

2. President Harry Truman was a full-fledged member of the KKK as are many Democrats today.

3. Martin Luther King’s March on Washington in 1963 was opposed by Democrat President John F. Kennedy.

4. Democrat President Lyndon B. Johnson fought against the Civil Rights Act in 1957, and was known as a racist.

Let’s examine those 4 items of illogical thought:

1. everyone knows the right wing are the masters of using “fear”, “racism” and lets add “hate”. Take for example Sarah Palin’s “Death Panels”. The threat of  ISIL members posing as brown skinned South American children massing at our southern border bringing the EBOLA virus to white America, as described  by Ted Cruz and his Teapublican minions.

2. Truman paid his $10 registration fee but was never an active member, he only joined because at the time (1924 when Truman was a judge in Jackson County, Missouri, the Klan was politically powerful and he was advised to join to gain their support) that was the extent of his involvement with the KKK.  The Ku Klux Klan (KKK) is a far right organization, advocating white supremacy, white nationalism, and anti-immigration stances. Their end goal was, is and always has been racial subordination, they oppose unions and Affirmative Action. They recruit using issues of illegal immigration, civil unions and same-sex marriage. These positions align with the modern day Republican Party’s policies, don’t they?

3. If President Kennedy was opposed to Martin Luther King, why then did King say this: “Had President Kennedy lived, I would probably have endorsed him  in 1964.” King also said he supported the ideals of democratic socialism, although he was reluctant to speak directly of this support due to the anti-communist sentiment being projected throughout America at the time, and the association of socialism with communism. Sound familiar?

4. If President Johnson was a racist, then why, in his first address to a joint session of Congress on November 27, 1963, did Johnson tell the legislators, “No memorial oration or eulogy could more eloquently honor President Kennedy’s memory than the earliest possible passage of the civil rights bill for which he fought so long.”?

Now I understand Aquila puffing out his chest after the results of the recent mid-term elections but let’s put that election in perspective. A full 62% of eligible voters choose to stay home. This isn’t any kind of referendum, this is the common outcome of mid-term elections, the party in power has always lost, always.

I must admit, for some reason, I thought this time it would be different. Now I know how the Aquila feels when he has one of those cybernetic hallucinations he demonstrates so often. What galled me was how almost every one of the Dems running tried to distance themselves from President Obama.

To highlight that point, consider this:

1.  President Obama has cut the national deficit in half since he took office.

2.  Corporate profits are at record highs.

3.  We are adding 200,000 jobs a month, after losing 80,000 a day when he took office.

4.  Unemployment is below 6%.

5.  The US Gross National Product growth is the best of OECD countries.

6.  The dollar is at its strongest level in years.

7.  The Stock Market is near record highs.

8.  Gas prices are dropping faster than Congressional approval ratings.

9.  There is no inflation.

10. Interest rates are the lowest in 30 years.

11. Oil imports are declining, production is rapidly increasing.

12. Obama brought our soldiers home from Iraq and killed Osama Bin Laden. The same guy President Bush said he never thought of catching.

13. Millions enjoy the benefits of real health care provided by the ACA.

So they ran away from all of this and more, yet they let the one third of the electorate vote for the party that got us into the mess that President Obama just finished digging us out of. It defies logical reason.



 Larry Baca

Manteca