I have voted Republican all along. But I haven't actually voted FOR someone since Reagan. In '88 I voted for Reagans Vice President hoping for 8 more years of Reaganomics. In '92, '96, '00, & '04 while I voted Republican, I was really voting AGAINST the other guy. I'm NOT happy with GWB, but there's no way on Earth I would've been happier with a Gore or Kerry administration!
Heaven only happens after you're dead.
While you're alive, consider yourself extremely lucky to get half a loaf.
The dirty little secret is that democracy doesn't at all reliably select the best person for the job.For example, we accept that Ronald Reagan was an excellent president between 1981-1989 - but for how long before that was Reagan the best man for the job? 1976, certainly - but for how long before that? Was Nixon better than Reagan would have been? Unlikely in the extreme.
Was Johnson better than Reagan would have been in 1965-69? Get serious - Jimmy Carter woulda been as good a president as that! Would Reagan have been a worse president than John "Bay of Pigs" Kennedy? Very unlikely.
I first voted in 1960, and in all that time Reagan was the only candidate I unambiguously thought was the right man for the job. And actually, that is only natural - because there is no principled way for the Republicans to select the best candidate in a multiperson race in the primary. You run into the "rock, scissors, paper" problem that in a field of three, you might choose A over B, if those were the two choices, or B over C, if those were the two choices, or C over A if they were the two choices.
The problem is compounded by the fact that the best person to be president does not necessarily even present him/herself as a candidate for the nomination - as Reagan did not, in 1960, 1964 and 1968.