Ever since Bush has been in office, I’ve become a conservative without a party. I had been edging away from the Republican party in the late 90s when the party of “family values” took gleeful and perverse delight in stained dresses and cigars. After Bush “aw shucks-ed” his way into office, the party of gravitas morphed into the party of reckless abandon and I became a third party voter. Better to “waste my vote” than to support a party of power brokers hiding behind a carefully crafted facade of faux conservatism. For me, voting has become about the message, not about electing a satisfactory candidate, because apparently that’s not gonna happen. By voting Libertarian, I’m casting a vote against Republicans. I may not be voting for a candidate who will win, but I am participating and I am making my conservative leanings known to those who watch the elections. If other dissatisfied Republicans in the US would vote Libertarian maybe Republican leaders would take note. If Republicans started losing elections because 10 percent of the base abandoned the party, then it might cause a swing back toward real conservatism (I exclude religious zealotry from my definition of conservatism). It would be worth it not to have a $9 trillion deficit and a dollar that is becoming like 3rd world currency, not to mention a badly mismanaged war. I’d rather be a part of the fringe element than vote Republican now. Until Republicans can prove that they’ve become conservative again, I will not be casting a vote in a major election for them.
