Well, you did it, America. You did what I prayed you weren't stupid enough to do: you handed the presidential election to Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton.
Since Trump became the presumptive Republican nomineeon May 3, Republican voters and Party elites haven't stopped debating whether to bite the bullet and vote for Trump or bite the other bullet and vote for Clinton. While Republican politicians -- such as Mitt Romney, Marco Rubio and Paul Ryan -- have been reluctant to support Trump others, like Rick Perry, Republican National Committee chairman Reince Priebus, and plenty of everyday voters have wholeheartedly supported him and encouraged voters to do the same. They may not like or agree with Trump, but they think he's the only alternative to Clinton and "the lesser of two evils!"
Trump may not be a registered Democrat anymore. But looking at his policies, I can't see how he is the lesser of two evils. He supports single payer healthcare, ending trade, and raised taxes. He's shifted his positions on life many times but still supports the state funding Planned Parenthood. His immigration plan, while stereotypically right-wing, is far from being fiscally conservative. And his rhetoric, which is actually racist and misogynistic, should have no place among people who claim to value equal opportunity and individual liberty for everyone. Trump may be a Republican, but his ideology and principles are not conservative. They're just not.
And while many voters don't find Clinton much better, perhaps they'd be willing to vote for her over Trump, her scandalous past aside. Though I've been hearing negative things about both of the Clintons my entire life, I could probably suck it up and vote for Clinton this year-- if she still talked and acted like a '90s-era moderate Democrat. But the current Clinton, who constantly shifts her positions on guns, trade deals, war, social issues, and economics because she's pandering to the radical progressives of her party -- I have no interest in voting for her.
Neither major option is better than the other. If we want a conservative president, we have to rally behind a third party candidate. The thousands of people who have pledged never to vote for Trump have to honor their pledge. Our loyalty is not to the GOP. We didn't become Republicans for the sake of calling ourselves Republicans, or just because we like elephants. We became Republicans because we value conservative principles like small government, free markets, and protecting everyone's natural rights to life liberty, and property. And when the party nominates someone who doesn't hold conservative ideals, we should not and cannot continue to support the party. You can call it throwing your vote away, but I call it not throwing any of my principles away. No human being or organization, including the GOP, deserves our blind loyalty. And right now, blind loyalty isn't just idiotic -- it could destroy our country.
At this point, everyone needs to get over his or her fantasy of Mitt Romney or Paul Ryan stepping in and running as an independent. Conservatives have to get behind the Libertarian candidate, as much as we may loathe their foreign policy because that party is the only one that still remotely cares about individual liberty and small government. Libertarians generally believe that we should adhere to the Constitution. They support capitalism. They value individual freedom and leaving minor issues to states, rather than large and powerful federal governments. True conservatives (not Trump) share these ideas.
Personally, I'd rather vote for someone with whom I have a few disagreements than for someone who pushes the total opposite of everything I believe. However, historically, Libertarians have barely made dents within general elections. In order to win, the Libertarian Party has to nominate someone who can unite Never Trump conservatives, Libertarians, and maybe even a few Never Hillary Democrats. Even if the third-party candidate can't manage to win in November, he or she could prevent Clinton or Trump from getting the 270 votes needed to win.
As much as I don't want to vote for a Democrat, I cannot vote for a fascist just because he calls himself a Republican. I'd like to think that most Republicans truly believe in the principles they talk about, and will rally behind someone who shares those principles, even if he doesn't share our label.
