Always Vote for Principle, Though You May Vote Alone, and You May Cherish the Sweetest Reflection that Your Vote Is Never Lost

My party's candidate has no real chance of winning a general election and I have never voted for the Libertarian candidate for president (sorry if you're hearing it here first, Bob). Normally, I tend to lean Republican because they espouse my views on meritocracy; I don't support unions and I believe in personal accountability. I am a firm believer in civil liberties, but Republicans have never scared me with all their talk about overturning Roe v. Wade and all the Bible thumping because I believe that the Constitution of the United States will win over their agenda time and time again.

My family moved to Colorado a little over a year ago. I registered to vote as a Libertarian and my wife registered as a Republican. Since Colorado is a battleground state for this presidential election, we are getting besieged with mailers from both sides of the aisle. I am getting mailers from the Democrats and my wife is getting mailers from the Republicans. I find this to be fascinating. Either the Republicans think I am in the bag for them because of my party affiliation or they are not trying to sway swing voters. The Democrats, on the other hand, look at me as a viable option to vote for their candidate.

It turns out that they are right. I have not parted from my general philosophy, but I feel that the government needs to make amends for the atrocity of the last eight years (and a few more from the 1990s too). I still believe an individual is the most responsible for his or her success and happiness, but Clinton and Bush both played so heavily to the wealthiest citizens (at least Clinton tried to hide it) that I think that the pendulum needs to swing back the other way in order to straighten out this mess.

Senator McCain has charged that Barack Obama is too liberal and radical to be president, but some of the most radical ideas have come from the Republicans: Theodore Roosevelt created the Interstate Commerce Commission and passed the Pure Food and Drug Act, Dwight Eisenhower spent a ton of money developing the interstate system in America, and Richard Nixon created the Environmental Protection Agency. These were all radical and liberal ideas in their time and they were all done for the benefit of the entire country, not the base ideology of a political party.

The country is tired of division and wants someone who will bring us together with the best interests of everybody in mind. I don't mind paying more taxes or getting less of a tax cut if the money is spent to develop alternative fuel sources, educate our children and give everybody access to health care. I do not want to pay for an unnecessary war, to spy on our country's own citizens and to help wealthy people get wealthier at everybody else's expense.

That's why Obama is pulling away in the suburbs, a stronghold of Republican idealism for the last thirty years. That's why my wife will be voting for Obama. That's why my friends Jay and Catherine, who live in what Joe McCain calls "communist country" in Virginia, will be voting for Obama. That's why my friend Dave, a small business owner who sends his kids to a parochial school, will be voting for Obama. It's not about ideals, it's about principle.

Thanks to John Quincy Adams for the title quote.