For starters, let me say that I consider myself a conservative. Rarely have I ever referred to myself as a Republican, though admittedly, I've mostly voted that way over the years. I have pulled the lever for an occasional Democrat on the local level, but it was usually because my only choices were Democrats. Never have I voted for an Independent or a Third Party candidate, though I have considered it a time or two. Partisan, you say? I maintain that I'm not, despite my voting record. As a conservative, I've merely found that the most palatable candidates have most often been Republicans.

I do not consider John McCain to be a particularly palatable presidential candidate. In fact, there aren't many public offices for which I would consider him. As a veteran, I respect his service to our country and would never make light of the sacrifices he made in that capacity. In political office, on the other hand, he has largely proven himself to be a liberal. I make a habit of not voting for liberals, which is why I didn't vote for him in the primaries. It's why I didn't originally intend to vote for him even after he'd won the primary. I hadn't formulated a good plan, but I had some vague intention of writing in a candidate. I believe that not voting is equivalent to voting for whoever happens to win, so I had to take some kind of action at the poll.

As the campaign season lurched along, I became increasingly disgusted at the thought of Obama as President. Then I watched McCain's speech at the Republican National Convention. He managed to impress me with the notion that, while his domestic policies are largely abhorrent, his patriotism seems sincere. In short, he could be trusted on national security and that is far more than can be said of his opponent. I decided that I would join the crowds of conservatives that would hold their nose and vote for McCain in order to block Obama's bid for the White House. It might make me a one-issue pony, but I rationalized that it was a necessary sacrifice.

They say that with time comes wisdom, however, so in relatively short order I backtracked on my previous rationalizations. Watching McCain in action after the RNC, I increasingly became aware that I could not vote for him any more than I could vote for Obama. Most of his policies, plans and proposals fly in the face of everything I stand for. Maybe he's not as bad Obama (okay, it's not a matter of maybe), but I had to come to grips with a basic fact. The lesser of two evils is still evil. To say that Obama would be a disastrous president is clearly stating the obvious, but what of McCain? Even though he might make a better president, I truly believe he would be a bad president. As if to confirm my convictions on cue, along came the "Wall Street Crisis". John McCain goose-stepped right along with the rest of the socialism-for-your-own-good crowd in passing a so-called bailout plan to the tune of $700 billion...just like I knew he would. His actions and deeds of the last weeks go beyond this, of course, but it sums up the fundamental problem of entrusting John McCain with the reins to our country.

Upon self-examination, voting for the lesser of two evils has been my course of action, more often than not, when going to the polls. I just can't do it anymore. I'm well aware that Barack Obama may win this election and many will point an accusing finger at any conservative that "allowed" him to be president by not voting for McCain. Throw your stones if you must, but when it's all said and done, you won't be able to escape the truth. If Barack Obama becomes president, it will be because the supposed conservatives of the Republican Party didn't have the gumption to pit a decent opponent against him. It will be because McCain is little more than Democrat-lite and that is hardly something to get excited about. At some point, we must not only stand on principle, but we must vote on principle. I'm sorry if this is an inconvenient time in history for some of you, but this year I choose principle. We are continually told that we need to vote against someone, in order to get us to vote for someone that doesn't represent our ideals. How about a world where you vote for someone, because they're worth voting for?

The right path is seldom the easy path. There is never a convenient time for tough action. We can't continue to take the same measures over and over and expect a different outcome. If we ever hope to truly turn this country in the right direction, we need to stop hoping and start acting. Yes, there are still conservative hold outs in the Republican Party, but face the facts. They do not control the party. Much of the time they don't even wield any particularly influence. Talking the talk is not the same as walking the walk and we need to stop pretending that it's close enough. We've reached a point where simply being better than the Democrats is not a valid measuring stick. If you haven't noticed, that bar isn't very high. When you look at the current size of government, the arrogant disregard for constituents, the immoral tax and spend adventures and a reckless headlong rush toward instituting socialist policies in this country; can you unequivocally say that Republicans are appreciably better than Democrats? I do believe in national defense, but that is the lonely last straw that many Republican voters are clinging to. At some point we must determine to preserve something worth defending.