Tuesday of course is the Wisconsin Primary.  As I'm sure all of you know, I'll be voting for Ron Paul.  I've made my reasons clear over the last several months, and nothing has happened to really change my opinion.  However, even I'm not crazy enough to think that Ron will win the nomination.  But despite that, it is especially important, while I still have the chance, to let those in charge know how I feel about the direction our country is taking, and what the appropriate role of government is.  Lord knows that Ron Paul is not perfect, but of all the candidates, he is most closely aligned with my beliefs.

Of course, the harsh reality of next November is beginning to set in.  Unless something totally unexpected happens, John McCain will be Republican candidate, and I'm willing to put money down that Obama will be the Democratic candidate.  I suppose knowing that, I could step into the booth on Tuesday and vote in the Democratic primary, just to mess with things, but that's never been my style.  I've always felt it important to cast my vote for who I  believe should actually hold office.  I don't vote in an effort to play strange games.

Come November though, I will be faced with a very difficult choice.  Neither candidate will be someone that I want.  Neither candidate espouses small government views, or believes in personal liberty and responsibility.  Neither candidate believes in the importance of federalism or Constitutional principles.  And so once again, I will be left to choose between a douche bag and a turd.  I have a strong sense to vote for the Democratic candidate, if for no other reason than to teach the Republicans the lesson that they apparently didn't learn two years ago.  The Republican party is no longer the party of small government.  They need to be shocked.  They need to be slapped in the face.  They need something that will say... get your act together!  But will voting for the Democratic candidate do that?  Recently Eugene Kane made the following quip about John McCain and how local conservatives are attacking him:

The fact Rush and other local right-wing squawkers in Milwaukee don't like McCain is enough for me to hope he gets the Republican nomination. It will show they are not as in touch with their voting base as they claim, and it will also show the hypocrisy of conservatives who criticize other groups for refusing to let outside influences pick their leaders for them.

Kane may very well have a point here.  Small government conservatives could very well be out of the mainstream.  The scariest thing about John McCain's rise to the nomination may not be that he did it despite the fact that he doesn't believe in small government... but rather that most voters appreciate the fact that he doesn't believe in small government.  He may in fact represent the majority of Republican voters.

And so now I'm left to think about what to do come November.  I've heard all the reasons to vote for McCain despite the fact that I'll need a clothes pin to do it.  Supposedly he'll appoint conservative judges to the Supreme Court... but I have my doubts on that one.  Probably the most compelling reason to vote for him is that we need someone in the White House who can counter balance a Democratic Congress, so that the Oval Office doesn't turn into a rubber stamp for Democratic policies.  Ironic isn't it... since 6 out 8 years Bush was in office was the exact same thing for the Republicans, and it turned out just as horribly.  This is precisely why I should have voted for John Kerry 4 years ago, and stupidly did not.  But I'm left to wonder whether that is even true.

I've commented many times that Bush has sold his soul for Iraq.  He has in fact signed may liberal laws and policies in the last 8 years, all in an effort to make deals for funding on the Iraq War.  He calls it "Compassionate Conservatism", but it's really just big government Republicanism.  John McCain of course is cut from the very same cloth.  He has vowed to keep up the fight in Iraq, and is talking tough about many other potential battles in the War on Terror.  So I'm left to wonder... what Faustian deals will he be willing to make to enact the foreign policy he wants?  Is it really all that far fetched to believe that a President McCain would sign a bill authorizing a Canadian style health care system, if he was able to keep troops in Iraq for the next 100 years like he has said he would want to do?

Remind me again how John McCain would fight Democrats, because frankly... I just don't see it happening.  He's a deal maker.  He plays politics too well with Democrats.  Most of the bills that carry his name also carry the name of a Democrat he's worked closely with.  Maybe it's just time I realize that no matter who wins, I'm screwed.  But at least if McCain loses, I can cling to the false hope that maybe the Republican Party might learn its lesson for 2012... though really... what are the odds of that happening?