As late as last night, I was on facebook urging people to vote for Rick Santorum. But at about 7:45 PM, I walked into my polling place, "pulled the lever" for Ron Paul, and walked out again, at peace. I fried my brain to get to that place, engaging in political calculus until I couldn't see straight, but I'll be okay, and here's why:
Santorum will win my 6th District delegates with or without my vote, so voting for him was at best adding to his meaningless popular vote total. Right now, it looks like he'll win that, or at least come close to it, so why vote for him?
Turn that question around, though, and ask why not? Why not vote for Santorum?
First of all, he could actually win the nomination, and who really knows? What if he won the election? That would be the end of our Republic, and I wouldn't want to have helped him destroy my country. I couldn't bear the thought that my desire to do mischief could directly help him. Wasn't it Secretary Reich who said better a 50% chance of Romney winning, than a 10% chance of Gingrich winning?
Secondly, what if I'm wrong about him winning the nomination, because there is just enough common sense left in the Republican Party to make them bring in a white horse that actually would have a realistic chance of beating President Obama? If I help Jeb Bush get elected, I still haven't done anything helpful.
Well, I still wasn't going to vote for Romney, and a vote for Gingrich wasn't going to do anything at all, so why did I vote for Ron Paul?
I like him a whole lot on national security, check.
He makes the other candidates look bloodthirsty and maniacal, check.
His doing well in an open primary makes Santoromney look bad, check.
His staying in the campaign weakens the power theocratic warmongers now enjoy in the. check.
Anyway, I actually think I did good today, rather than harm, although I hope I did a little harm;