Letter in Gainesville Times

Only a man is good enough in GOP's eyes
I couldn't help but laugh at Paul Stanley's column. In Stanley's words, the president he is looking for can only be a man. Nine times Stanley refers to the perfect president as a "he."

Why doesn't Stanley, as chairman of the Hall County GOP, just go ahead and say, "Women have no place in the White House?" I could have tolerated a bold statement that only a white male, evangelical, reformed alcoholic frat boy could be president. After all, we've had one of those for seven years.

But Stanley is only looking for a male president. And, as Stanley says, "He will understand the power of incentives and disincentives."

In the GOP world, not only are woman consigned to the kitchen and the bedroom, women can't understand reward and punishment. That must be why women make so little money and can't hold executive jobs, work as judges or as teachers.

Gender aside, the local GOP leader is also looking for that male president who will not use taxes "to punish." A male president would know that, "taxes are not meant to punish."

When our economic enemies illegally "dump" products into our economy, how will Stanley's male president stop our enemies? Would Stanley's man invade another Third World country? Or would our country be better off using punitive tariffs?

When oil companies gouge the consumer at the pump, our country should punish Big Oil with windfall taxes? Or during war, if a company steals from the war effort, why not punish the Halliburtons with an excess profit tax? But like Stanley seems to be saying, taxes are not meant to punish and governments aren't supposed to nurture good citizenship.

I hope Stanley never finds that male president who use "free market mechanisms" to do the things only men should do. My country can't afford another GOP style "real man" running the country.

Michael Parker
Flowery Branch