Duty. Honor. Country. Civic Responsibility

A good friend of mine, a retired firefighter and Korean War Era Marine – a fine and good American if there ever was one, recently sent me an email on the realization that John McCain was the front-runner for the Republican presidential nomination.

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In it he espoused the exact sentiment that I fear most going into the November elections. In essence, he said that if McCain wins the nomination he will not be voting...period. I have heard this pronouncement coming from the talk radio elite as well. While it is appropriate to thrash out intra-party ideological differences in the primary elections it is thoroughly irresponsible to abdicate civic responsibility by narcissistically refusing to protect the country from the lesser of the two candidates offered in November. The battle to convince litmus test voters that theirs is a constitutional obligation to vote for the better of the two candidates presented in November is not an easy one. Over the years politicians, both genuine and opportunistic, have pounded the idea into our heads that we must always choose the best candidate. But what happens when the best candidate isn’t offered on the final ballot? What happens when a political faction’s “darling” doesn’t make the cut? Many true Conservatives are in that very position today. The fact of the matter is that we have never – ever – voted for the best candidate in any election. Each and every politician who has ever run for office has had their weak points and their detractors, whether legitimate or contrived. In reality, each election that our country holds, whether local, county, state or national, is a contest in which the better candidate is selected. This being said, it is understandable why many political analysts recognize that it is easier to get voters to the polls to vote against something than to vote for something. More...