Holding One's Nose and Voting

Of course, there's a time for it. Namely, most of the time. Not letting the perfect be the enemy of the good. Avoiding foolish idealism. That sort of thing. It's all well and good.

However, there comes a point in the progression of a political system's dysfunction where both candidates are so bad that the fact that one is not quite as bad as the other becomes insignificant. It rather becomes time to stop supporting the system because the system is sick. Here I'm talking about the Democrat-Republican party system. With enough voters abstaining from voting for either of the major candidates, a signal is given that there is room for a new political party. The signal would be clearer if like-minded abstainers would write in the same name.

I'm a conservative. I can't vote for McCain or the Democrats. Don't want to write in George Washington. Too august a figure. Nor Thomas Jefferson, my hometown hero.

I will write in John Adams this November, in the event of a contest between McCain and the Democrats. If you are of like mind, I suggest you write in Adams, too, and suggest to your like-minded friends that they consider doing so, as well.

I dream of a puzzled TV news anchor reporting that so-and-so is our new president but that there seems to have been one million write-ins reported for John Adams. Energetic individuals who might start a conservative party would take note of the opening.

UPDATE: I was wrong. As Hugh Hewitt has been arguing, it is significantly preferable that McCain pick the next half-dozen Supreme Court justices than that Obama or Clinton do so. My mistake.