I'm advocating pre-emptive resistance. Whichever statist wins will be more vulnerable to resistance, weakened, and easier to fight, if he wins by a plurality and the majority of voters voted against him. Voting official, on-the-ballot third party (that way I don't run the risk of invalidating the entire ballot) is the best way I can think of to use my vote in the Presidential to RESIST: do what I can to send him into office as weak and politically vulnerable as possible.
And regardless of the hysteria regarding Obama, if he is re-elected by a plurality where well over 50% voted against him -- I'm praying for 60% or more to vote AGAINST both candidates -- he'll be politically vulnerable and the forces of conservatism, no matter which of the clowns wins, IF that clown wins on a slim plurality, the forces of conservatism will be stronger because the vote and the math prove that big government liberalism is a losing proposition.
What is most frustrating now, though, is that right now it's ALL and ONLY about Obama. If Romney wins, six months into 2013 Obama would be totally forgotten, and conservatives would find themselves responsible for having ELECTED as the key Republican "leader," a guy who would then tell them to sit down and shut up, and he'd have a huge, organized, well-funded force behind him that are ruthless and even devious in how they operate.
That Obama is gone would mean zero when we see the Republican president and Congress being BIPARTISAN in enacting government-run health care with on-demand abortion, the whole cap-and-trade eco-tyranny agenda, and pushing laws to punish people who peacefully resist open homosexuality in their everyday lives. And as icing, conservatives, with Obama totally forgotten, would squirm helplessly and shreik in impotent rage as their Republican president proceeded to nominate liberal activist judges and Republicans in Congress, going up against a guy who plays true political hardball, remaining strangely silent.
Yes, RESIST. And I think part of that is recognizing that Republicans need to stop obsessing on what they're voting against, and realize that in 2013, the ONLY thing that will matter will be what they voted for. That's why I'm voting FOR resistance against either one, using my vote in the one small way it can make him enter office as weak and embattled as possible.
I understand your frustration... but your plan is not “using your vote” it is wasting your vote. I am not happy how this has worked out either but throwing a tantrum and wasting my vote isn't going to make it any better.
As an adult we sometimes have to make difficult decisions and compromises. This time around we can either vote for a Marxist who hates this country and all it stands for and has already done irreparable damage or we can vote for someone who has a more liberal voting record than we would like but who still appears to believe in the American dream. No one else currently has a chance. Wasting your vote isn't going to make either of them any “weaker” or do anything other than make it more likely that Obama will get four more years.