I have to disagree here. There are Republicans that are far from conservative, and some Democrats that are not liberal. Both parties seem to be infected with progressives, IMO. Of course there are other parties, but until they can produce candidates that appeal to a wide audience, in a number of states, winning a sizable number of seat in congress, they are going to remain in the peripheral. R and D isn't such a black and white as many people believe. I really couldn't care less what letter appears after the name of the candidate, what matters is do they represent my vision. While typically there are two box's to check on the ballot, nothing says you can't leave it blank i.e. none of the above. The problem here is someone will win. Do you vote the lesser of two evils or take what someone else votes in?

I do have a solution, for president anyway. Hold all primary's the same day for every state. This will force (some) people to research the candidates better, and not let three or four states decide our choices for us. The candidates will have to make their case early on. I believe if this were the case, the presidential candidates would have been much different from what we had in 2008. 

Well, Nitro Cruiser, I sort of covered it with your quote, I just left out some AND’s and OR’s, sorry. I would like to believe that what letter appears after the name of a candidate was unimportant and that a vision match (AMAP) was enough to make enough difference, but I cannot. Not while there is so much corruption in Congress. If this criminal regime has taught us anything it should be whoever gets the most votes is critical. I am just not ready or willing to allow the Democrats to keep control and continue with this mess. The problem with this is of course that the Republican Party would then be in control of things, sort of. There is too much corruption in their ranks also for me to be at all comfortable with that. But something needs to be done fairly quickly and I do not think the Democrat Party has a clue on how to get out of this mess. I don’t think they even understand how they got here in the first place. I give the Republican Party less than a 40% chance of getting it right and doing at least some of what the people of this country want. But what are our other options for the here and now?

I like the idea of a National Presidential election all at one time and I think this would shake things up nicely.

I have to disagree as well - but for a different reason.  There are other choices, and yes, they are small.  But they are never going to get anywhere if we keep that mindset - they are the only 2. 

The Tea party is not republican, although the republicans are trying to co-opt them.  2 years ago, I did not vote for eitehr party.  And will not this year either.  Am I throwing away my vote?  You would say so.  But I am just trying to vote my conscious and getting others to do it as well means we will lose in the near term.  But hopefully when in the long term.  There were not always just 2 parties or just these 2 parties.  Everyone had to crawl before they could walk.

        Well Dr. Guy, this is the first comment I read from you that I find disappointing. It has been a long time since I enjoyed voting my conscious, but we have to work within the existing political structure. We have only 2 viable options now and as you said, there are alternatives, but until we actually have something to work with … I cannot justify burying my head in the sand for the privilege of voting my conscious while believing that we will lose in the short term and all the while HOPING the long term will somehow work itself out. Yes I do believe you are throwing your vote away. I did vote for McCain, kicking and screaming the whole time, even though I knew he was not even close to a candidate I could freely support. I do not think his election would have been anywhere near what the Country needed then, but you have to admit that it could not be as bad as it is now, could it? The war machines of both Parties needs to be restructured and I cannot figure out how this can be accomplished through abstention.

        The current Republican Party has one thing going for it; they are not in power NOW. I know it is not much, but it is what it is. If the Democrats were to maintain power after the elections, what do you think is going to change? These people are riding such a high now having been hampered only by that pesky Constitution. A win can only be perceived as an endorsement by the people so again I say, what will change and why? You may never allow yourself to ever vote again if you are willing to wait for some miraculous long term solution to present itself.

       We have to FIX the corrupt system before we can hope to be able to start voting for people based mostly on their actual merits. As things are now, Independent seems to mean people like John McCain, Lincoln Chafee, Olympia Snowe and Arlen Specter to name a few. I found the below list on the net and am trying to figure out which Independents you are going to work with?

The problem is when waiting to "vote your conscious", you are asking others to do your work for you.  As it is, you are in the majority, not minority.  Gore lost in 2000 because of Nader and the left vowed never again (and for the most part have kept that promise).  The right lost in 92 because of Perot and did the same.  And what has changed in almost the 20 years since then?

Nothing really.  For many people think like you (and I did at one point).  But unless you take a stand, you cannot rail against those who do.  They are at least moving the grains of sand.  The mountain will take a long time, especially when so few are moving the grains of sand.  But if no one moves the sand, it will never get done.

I decided before 2008 that I will no longer "settle" for a candidate.  If the republicans (or even democrats) will not offer a palatable candidate, I will vote for neither.  Because if there is anything the Bush43 years showed me, it is that when it comes right down to it, there is not a whole lot of difference between fric and frac.

Three hundred million can voice their displeasure as long as one will vote (settle). I commend your integrity DG, but the only thing a person gets for taking a pass is bragging rights that you didn't vote for the current idiot in office. You still are subject to the same cockamamie bills and laws these people dream up. Do you believe all the Obama supporters did their homework on him? Any digging just got the digger labeled as a racist. We can only do our research and make a choice. I will vote the best possible choice, with the assumption I'm not going to be please 100% of the time. The key is not to keep voting for the same mistake over and over. The big problem is these politicians are not being held accountable. The swamp tends to protect blue meat much more than red meat. They all need to go when something is uncovered.

I commend your integrity also DG, but this is the funny part. I have already gone through my most principled period and discovered as you will that it is not enough, and this is why. We are all want to sit back on our haunches and blaming the Politicians for their corruption and improprieties, but that is not the whole story. Through complacency on the part of the voters (not voting being one way), we have allowed this corruption to fester and grow in their ranks and now we find ourselves in a very untenable position where it does not matter anymore what the people want, only what the radicals want. We keep waiting for these bastions of society to clean their own ranks but I do not think they will ever have the fortitude or desire to do so. It is going to be up to us to do the cleaning and a non-vote accomplishes nothing in that regard. You have to build with the blocks available and I am afraid that you will have a very long wait if you think this will somehow correct itself. Considering that we are in dire straits as we speak, how much time do you think we have?

As food for thought, remember the Republican Party elected an incompetent John McCain as their champion and I am convinced that this was the sole result of NON VOTERS. Just think where we could be now if we actually had chosen a viable candidate. The Republican Party is not the real solution, but it is the place to start. We do have many gubernatorial prospects that will make a big difference down the road as long as that road is still there.

Medicine does not taste good for a reason. It cures, but it is supposed to remind you not to do the things that got you into the position you were in to have to take it.

This is medicine.  We could never have had a Reagan without a Carter.  We have not had a Reagan since then.  I am tired of the Bushes and the Clintons.  Obama is harsh medicine, but necessary.  While the boob twins would not be sitting on SCOTUS had McCain won, not much else would be different, and the republicans nominated him!

So this is not only a lesson for the country (the Obama curse), but for conservatives as well.  If you give us a joke to vote for, excuse me for not laughing at your stupidity.  I will not.  I have held my nose for the last time.  Should sanity return to the political parties, I will be happy to vote for their nominees.  But do not offer to hold my nose for me as I step into a voting booth and say you are giving me what I want.

I did vote in the primary, but not for McCain.  I do vote in every election (I have missed one in the last 35 years - and in this state we vote every year).  I am not 300 million.  But I do what I can.  I know my lone vote is not enough, but hope that in time more will follow and we will actually have a great country once again.  it will not happen in my life time, but I can always hope for my children.

I am principled - I always have been.  But now I am just not compromising (I should say completely compromising as I do not think we are going to get a candidate that I am in sync with 100%).  There is a difference.

We suffered through Bush 41 - because we were too afraid to say no.  We suffered through Bush 43 because "we had no choice".  I will not suffer through Bush 4x or McCain ?? for the same reason.  Obama hurts.  But then until enough people hurt, there will be no change.

I'm not suggesting you go with the status quo. One can always write in a candidate, won't go anywhere, but at least your dissent is noted (even if some small, obscure footnote in some record book) as opposed to not voting at all. Don't quote me, but I believe of the eligible voters only about 40% vote. Imagine if the other 60% voted for someone else. The chance of them voting for the same candidate is too slim to comprehend, but at least these "low count" winners will stop preaching that they have a "mandate" when they only get a little bit more than 20% of the vote for the "victory". Wouldn't it be ironic to be defeated by Mickey Mouse? Wouldn't that send a powerful message? (Disclaimer: Fictional characters cannot be registered as a candidate, but they can be wrote in. These votes are discarded)

Perhaps they should be listed as "none of the above" and if it gets the most votes, they declare no winner.  DC would be mighty empty! (Which is not a bad thing).

Well, I am not going to continue with the same stuff over and over. Personally, I do not care if or how or why you vote as long as you have thought things out. I guess all we were trying to express is that a non-vote helps nobody except for possibly the worst candidate in the election, and for what, so you can sit there and proudly boast that you stood up for integrity by NOT voting. As I understand it that is exactly what Obama did in the State Legislature with over a hundred not present votes? The reasoning may be different but the effect is the same. And where would we be if you got your wish and others follow your lead? What happens when ALL the integrity conscious voters do not vote? How does that further any but the worst cause when you allow the NON informed idiots to make this decisions for you. All this philosophy will accomplish is a decline in the number of political figures that are worth more than their weight in shit that may actually have some character.

I would agree that electing McCain with all his many faults probably would not have prevented a lot of this unnecessary shit from taking place, but things would be different in many respects and the downturn in our economy would not be as severe, but he had to get elected first. Personally, I was hoping that he would win and then suffer some temporary malady that would have allowed Sarah Palin to take up the reins. But even if not, don’t  you think she would have run circles around Joe Biden. Do you think that would have changed things even more? If we do not vote we cannot change those in power and if we cannot do that we have no right to sit back and bitch about it. Also I think you are getting a bit paranoid because we (I) were only talking about you decision not to vote for the president. Maybe things digressed somewhere but that was not my intent.

When you go to the store and to purchase something but you do not like what you find, then a non-vote with your pocket book is perfectly fine, but a non-vote in an election is quite different. You see, when you go home without a purchase you go home empty handed and all is well. But when you leave the polls without voting you will still go home empty handed but you should have a nasty taste in your mouth knowing that your non vote canceled someone else’s actual vote. If you wanted to speed things up a little faster, you could just vote for the biggest asshole in the election because that is exactly what you are doing by not voting. I fail to see the integrity here, sorry.

My brain dead dog runs circles around Joe Biden!

1. Non-voting is a non-issue with me.

2. If I am not going to vote for the second biggest arse hole, I sure am not going to vote for the biggest!

3. Voting for a lesser candidate means you still have a steak in the game, but you do not carry the baggage of the 2 biggest arse holes.

I think a much better way to send a much faster signal (at least a signal that someone else is aware of) is to start kicking out the incumbents (ALL OF THEM) regardless of accomplishment or stated opinions for good or ill. This is the quickest way I can think of to let CONGRESS know that they had better start listening to the people who actually work in this country and pay their astronomical salaries. If nothing else, this will rid  us of all those old war dogs who keep doing the same things decade after decade.

I am sure there are many different ways to try and express oneself, and if a non-vote is ok with you, then more power to you. It just doesn't work for me anymore because when I was in the prime of my integrity stint, my first and only non-vote helped to elect Carter and I have never forgiven myself. You make it sound like we have to go through some devastation for a good guy to pop up, but my contention is that Ronald Reagan was going to be there no matter what, but had Carter not preceded him, there is no telling how much more could have been accomplished. I honestly do not know much about Gerald Ford but I do know that he was no Carter.

PS It was never intended as a question and if it were, I could have answered it for you ... as you have.

Agree.

Kicking out all the incumbents seems to be the general sentiment in my neck of the woods as well. 

I disagree. I look at each candidate's voting record on abortion...if they are consistently pro-life then they are as good as gold to me. It's these incumbents that should stay in Congress imo.