And my vote goes to...

I've been thinking about what I'm going to do this coming election. The presidential election is lost for conservatives. Now the question is: What is our best course of action when dealing with two poor choices for President? The way I see it, McCain is just as bad if not worse for this nation in the long run as Obama is. Why is that? One word: Carter.

Jimmy Carter is probably one of the worst Presidents this country has ever seen. His policies dragged this country closer to economic collapse, and his doom-and-gloom speculation regarding the environment and oil have been roundly disproved. According to Carter, we'd be living in the age of Mad Max right about now, and if we'd actually done what he had prescribed, we'd be experiencing mass poverty in our nation, and probably be either speaking Russian or pushing up daisies. Carter was a horrible president, as history has shown, and he persists in trying to destroy our nation even to this day.

But, there was a bright silver lining on that cloud. His name was Ronnie. Ronald Reagan was the result of that terrible presidency. He renewed the conservative movement in such as way that the positive effects of his policies have lasted to this day. He brought down our nation's greatest enemy without firing a shot. He showed us the real meaning of "Peace though superior firepower". The victory of the cold war should be a lesson to all gun control supporters: Freedom has been for some time, and probably will be for the foreseeable future, won and lost at the end of a gun. The question is: Which end would you rather be on?

But back to the point of this rant: The 2008 Presidency.

There's a parallel here, and admittedly it's an unoriginal one at that. However it's still worth repeating. Obama is the Carter of our time. The candidates we have are the result of the steady decline of conservatism since Reagan left office. There have been some revivals, however the momentum has waned to the point of total dissapointment with our chosen nominee. And Obama, much like Carter, is seeing a rock-star like rise in popularity, without any real qualification or experience. Top that off with a repeat of history (attempts at price controls, calls to conserve our way out of an oil shortage, artificial pushes for alternative enery sources, and straight from the words of Carter himself "windfall profits taxes"), and we're headed for the early 80's all over again. It's as if someone dug up Carter's old speeches and handed them to Barack without even changing a single word.

McCain, on the other hand, may actually do a few things right during his presidency: stay the course in Iraq, continue to pursue Al Queda, open up (some) oil drilling, and push for a resurgence of nuclear power. However, beyond these few things, he's either iffy or downright wrong on the issues. Is he pro-life or isn't he. Will he appoint conservative judges, or will he fold just like he has in the past? Will he stop furthering environmentalist rhetoric or well he continue to capitulate? His record isn't very good. The question then becomes: Can we really risk four more years of slipping standards in the conservative movement in the name of the party?

Back to the silver lining. As you can tell by now I'm hoping McCain loses. I'm not saying I'm voting for Obama, that would also be immoral as a Catholic voter. I'd considered it, but after some careful thought about it, and discussion with my wife, I'd decided that it's best I withhold my vote from both Obama, and McCain. However, I'm still going to vote. You see, I think that the goal of this election needs to be re-focused for conservatives like myself. The message needs to be sent out, loud and clear, that the people of the Republican party should not be seen as servants to the party, as the Democrats see their people. We expect and demand that the liberals in the Republican party move on to their rightful home: the Democrat party. They need to take back thier party from the Socialists that control it. We are not your subjects. We will not follow the party blindly. We, unlike you, have principles. Our motive is not to keep our party in office, in power. Our motive is to bring about the return of Freedom. Freedom from the Federal government. Economic freedom. Religious freedom. True freedom. We will not follow you, because our leader is not the Republican party, it is God himself, the one who gives us true freedom.

Thanks to the hubris of the establishment Republicans, we have no candidate to vote for. To make it clear to the Republican party just who is in control here, we need to send a message that their chosen candidate is not acceptable to us, and that we know who embodies the qualities of a great President, not them. We must vote for the man who was the only true conservative in this race. With enough votes, the message will be clear. I don't expect him to win. I only hope that he will do for this party what Goldwater did for us back in the 60's

If you can't tell by now, "I'm With Fred".  Or rather, I'm back with Fred. Fred Thompson has always been the only true conservative in this election. I'll be writing his name in on my ballot. I know he doesn't have a chance, but as I stated, that's not really the point. The point is: I want my party back. I want my country back.