I was recently asked by one of those who has resigned himself to voting for John McCain because it is the “pragmatic” thing to do:

“What's your solution…sit home and don't vote? Vote for Hillary or Obama? Vote for a third party candidate which will only benefit Hillary or Obama? Have a temper tantrum because [you] didn't get [your] way?” Thanks, but I'll stick with my pragmatism."

It’s a fair question; what should a Conservative do if he can’t vote for McCain for president?

First thing you don't do is cower in fear of a prospective defeat at the hands of a Democrat Party candidate.

Too many people in the Republican Party appear to be suffering from Hillary Derangement Syndrome (HDS) or Obama Derangement Syndrome (ODS)...or maybe it's just Democrat Derangement Syndrome (DDS). They are filled with dire predictions of our future demise should a Republican…any Republican not be elected to the White House.

There is no proof of, or even any evidence to support, the absurd proposition that losing the Presidency in 2008 will mean the end of the world, the histrionics of the "lesser of two evils" touts in the punditry notwithstanding.

The “Conservative” pundits in the press and on television tell me that, no matter how far McCain strays from the principles in which we purportedly believe, he can’t be as bad as Hillary or Obama.

They speak to me of “pragmatism,” of facing the reality that I must support John McCain, regardless of how flawed he may be. I must be “pragmatic.”

Don't speak to me of pragmatism!

Pragmatism gave us David Souter on the Supreme Court.

Pragmatism is McCain/Kennedy giving us amnesty for 20 or 30 million illegal aliens and the end of our culture.

Pragmatism is an excuse for accepting the unacceptable rather than fighting for that in which you believe.

What would America look like had our Forefathers decided to "be pragmatic?" If General George Washington had been “pragmatic,” he would never have attempted to stick it out in Valley Forge, Pa. He would have simply shrugged his shoulders and told his troops, “Well guys, we gave it a good go, but it’s over now so let’s all go home.”

What if Abraham Lincoln had simply shrugged his shoulders and said, “Well, this war is too costly, I think I’ll ‘be pragmatic’ and let the South secede?”

What if Americans had decided to "be pragmatic" and allow the Germans to conquer Europe uncontested?

What if Reagan had decided to "be pragmatic" and cave in to the unilateralist movement in the early 80's?

All of those possible choices were available at the time and they would have been the easier course.

What would America look like had “pragmatism” prevailed over ideology whenever adversity raised its head? “Pragmatists” (like Jimmy Carter) told President Reagan, and all Americans, that our best times were over, that it was all downhill from then on. They told him it was impossible to defeat the Soviet Union.

Ronald Reagan confronted the “pragmatists” who told him that the best we could hope for is to reach an accord. Ronald Reagan took President Kennedy’s question, “Why not?” and threw it in the “pragmatist’s” faces. Ronald Reagan refused to look at the world through the eyes of “pragmatism” and chose to look at the world through the lenses of optimism and moral courage.

Pragmatism is for weaklings and cowards. It’s the snakes voice that says, “Give up, you can’t win. Why even try?”

Perhaps I’ve been alive too long for the rest of the people who are writing about this election, but I lived through the Kennedy, Johnson, Carter and Clinton administrations.

Guess what folks, I'm still here. I'm still a Conservative, and I still have my guns, my freedom of speech, free enterprise did not die out, the Communists did not take over America and...Surprise!...we still have private health care.

If all of the dire predictions coming out of our “Conservative” punditry class today were correct, then according to them, I should already be living in a People’s Socialist Republic of America rather than the greatest, freest, most productive and inventive nation in history.

Certainly socialism has made some progress in our nation, but America today is less socialist than it was in the 60’s and 70’s. One wonders how that could possibly be.

It didn’t come about because we Conservatives gave up on our principles and voted for whomever the Grand Old Party told us to. It came about by Conservatives standing firm on their principles and asserting their power…or withholding their power when necessary.

Are these supposed Conservatives seriously proposing the absurd suggestion that either Barack Obama-sama or Hillary Clinton are any more corrupt, Liberal, or incompetent than Lyndon Johnson or Jimmah Cahtah? If so then they need to revisit their history lessons.

Conservatism is based upon the principles set forth by our founding fathers 230 years ago. Do you believe them to be any less worth fighting for today than they were then?

Maybe old George Washington was mistaken and should have given Benedict Arnold a pardon and asked him to assume the Presidency. That's what all of these so-called Conservatives appear to be advocating now. They tell us that because John McCain is going to be the Republican nominee, we should abandon our principles and capitulate to the powers that be within the Party.

John McCain is no Benedict Arnold in the historical sense, but in the political sense he is every bit as much of a traitor to the Conservative principles he now claims to support. Voting him into the Presidency is no different from taking the easy path.

John McCain does not stand for the principles to which I have dedicated my life and in which I believe. Therefore voting for him would be betraying all that I have spent my life defending.

He does not believe in the sanctity of life, the right of Americans to secure their borders, the right of Americans to keep more of their incomes, the right to freedom of speech as outlined in the First Amendment, or in the free market as a solution to our energy problems. He believes in the false religion of Anthropogenic Global Warming. He opposes the exploitation of our nation’s natural resources in ANWR and off the coasts of Florida and California.

John McCain does not believe in and has never supported any of the Conservative principles in which I believe with the exception of the defense of America against our enemies and, truth be known, neither Hillary nor even Obama will abandon America to the terrorists.

Throughout our history, the weight of office has moderated each and every President once they achieved office and understood the burden they carried. Many, like Bill Clinton were uninspired and chose to play at being President rather than doing the job to which they were elected. Many others were just completely incompetent, as was Jimmy Carter, but none of them, not even FDR was able to destroy our nation either through incompetence or carelessness.

FDR had Soviet agents working for him in the White House and our State Department was teeming with communist sympathizers.

Harry Truman had Alger Hiss (Soviet Agent) create the United Nations, and Harry Dexter White (Soviet Agent) was put in charge of the World Bank after he had been advised by J. Edgar Hoover of White’s sympathies. Yet we survived and the Soviet Union eventually perished.

Our forefathers were wise and built a governmental system which is proof against the kinds of mismanagement, incompetence, and yes even malicious mischief in which any president might engage. There are natural counter-balancing forces which prevent extremism from succeeding in our system. Regardless of who occupied the White House, forces within and outside of the White House and the Capitol building worked to normalize any extremism.

There is no form of government as messy and as stable as a Republic such as ours, as our history has proven.

Yes the pendulum swings both Left and Right and at this time it is not swinging in my direction. Fine, I can live with that, I have before, but I never abandoned my principles just to prevent a catastrophe however chimerical, from occurring.

I am proud of every vote I have made and at the time, I believed in the person for whom I was voting...yes, Richard Nixon, Gerald Ford, Ronald Reagan and both George H. W. Bush and George W. Bush. I had positive reasons for supporting all of them.

Now I am told that I must forgive John McCain’s political treachery and Liberalism for the good of my party, or else disaster will strike America. What utter nonsense. Why should I forgive McCain for being a traitor to his own party? McCain doesn't forgive or forget anyone who has ever crossed him...except for his good buddies the North Vietnamese.

Why is it that McCain was so eager to make nice with his former captors that he sold his fellow MIA-POW's down the river? Why was it so urgent for America to “normalize” relations with Communist Vietnam? I am forced to ask if McCain is “the Hanoi Candidate.”

I would never trust him in the White House. He's emotionally unstable. It was clearly visible on his face during Mitt Romney's speech telling his delegates to vote for McCain. The guy is an emotional time-bomb.

Better a Marxist than a man of questionable emotional stability in the White House. Anyone voting for McCain is endangering our future generations far more than those who have chosen to sit this election out.

I was not shocked by George W. Bush not being a hardcore Conservative; I knew that before I voted for him. It was obvious to any who was paying attention that he was no Conservative, though I must admit that I did not know the extent to which he leaned Left.

Ultimately I would vote for McCain in spite of his Liberalism, if party supremacy was my only obligation and concern in this election, but it is not, I owe my fellow citizens the careful consideration that I would expect of them…even if they don’t display the same concern for me.

The good of the nation comes before the good of my Republican Party and I do not thing that having an overreacting angry man in the White House would be good for my party.

Not voting in the Presidential election is a right just as is voting. I am not obligated to vote for a candidate just because my Party has chosen to commit suicide. Not voting in the Presidential Election is not the same as not voting. It is making a conscious choice to concentrate my efforts on the candidates who are running down ballot and for whom I can generate enthusiasm. I have a full slate of local, state and federal candidates who are running and they will, if they adhere to Conservative standards, get my vote.

Be “pragmatic?” Not me folks. “Pragmatism” is becoming a linguini-spined, faint-hearted, fair weather Conservatives. “Pragmatism” is the antithesis of what being a Conservative means.

Since when do we Conservatives give up on the universal truths and eternal principles on which our nation was founded? Since when is acquiescing to the siren’s song of returning to the demonstrably failed principles behind socialism, collectivism and “shared responsibility, shared suffering, and shared prosperity” a Conservative principle?

I will be voting for Republican candidates, but I will not be voting for this pariah, or anyone I consider to be a pariah, for the Presidency.

I believe it would run counter to all in which I believe, and would be counter-productive for my Party for me to vote for McCain simply because he is all the Left-wing of my party and the Republican Party’s "Leaders” have given me.

Long Live Our American Republic!!!