The three C's of my voting

    Especially in recent years. I have identified politically as a conservative; not as a Republican. It just so happens that the Republican party goes closest with my views and worldview, though they are drifting further and further away from true conservatism.

    But before I am a conservative, I am a Christian; which influences my political views. I am a conservative because I am a Christian. As a Christian and conservative, I cannot and will not vote for candidates who hold political and moral views opposite mine and that do not line up with the Bible.

   What happens when the party you vote in lets you down? What do you do when the candidate the majority of Republicans nominate is so far removed from what you believe and stand for that he is no better than what the other party offers? What do you do when people who support that candidate expect you to toss your principles and values aside and vote for that candidate just to stop the Democratic candidate from winning? What do you do when that candidate's supporters tell you if you don't vote for their choice of candidate, you will be handing the election to the other candidate?

  My reasons for not supporting Donald Trump are many, and are influenced by the three C's: Christianity, conservatism, and common sense.. There are reasons as a Christian I cannot support and vote for him, and those are most important to me. There are also reasons I cannot support him because I am a conservative politically. I also cannot support and vote for him because of common sense.

   I am not a Republican. I do NOT have to vote for the candidate they put up just because he is on the Republican ticket.

  I have faulted and criticized Democrats for years because they have been rabidly loyal to their party and voted for the candidate offered up no matter how horribly  unqualified, or poorly vetted that candidate was. I have said that Democrats would vote for the devil himself if he was on the Democratic ticket, because they refuse to vote for a Republican.

  So here I am, in the same boat. If Donald Trump keeps up his momentum, he will be the GOP nominee for president. To vote for him would be going against my Christian beliefs, values, and my conscience. To vote for him would be going against my conservatism and common sense.... and all to make Trump supporters happy and to attempt to keep Hillary out of the presidency.

  Should I do it? Can I do it? Would it be worth it to do it? Is that reason enough for me to toss common sense, values, and morals out the window?

  In the last couple of elections, I have bit the bullet and voted for a candidate I did not support or like. First it was McCain. I thought he was too moderate, but he did seem to stand for the things that were important to me. After he lost to Obama, he started showing his true colors; and I regret voting for him. I truly wish I had not. My vote didn't stop Obama from winning the nomination and screwing up our country royally... so all I got out of it, was the knowledge that I voted for a RINO who doesn't stand for what is important to me after all.

  And then last election: Mitt Romney. I was dead set against him from the start. He is a Moromon, which is pretty much a cult. He seemed weak on marriage and abortion issues, and seemed weak. But as the Republican party is so intent on doing, they picked a RINO... a candidate too liberal and moderate to attract the more conservative and Christian voters. Again, Obama won. Again, I voted for a candidate that I regret voting for.

    So now Republicans are again choosing the worst candidate for their nominee. This time. they have really outdone themselves. He makes McCain and Romney look like right wing conservatives and choir boys. The majority of Republican voters are throwing their support blindly behind a man who supported liberals, their policies, and helped the very people who got us into the mess we are in morally and economically. He defends Planned Parenthood, says he will further gay rights, has cheated on two wives and brags about it, owns strip clubs where women are degraded and abused... and often get trapped in that lifestyle with no way out. He is vulgar, rude, a bully, narcissistic, and arrogant. He cannot be a Christian, as he said he doesn't need to ask God's forgiveness... and Christianity 101 teaches you must repent and ask forgiveness to be a Christian. He harps about sending jobs out of the country, yet he has done that himself. He has gone bankrupt 4 times, and has a long list of failed business ventures. He has said the woman he will run against would make a great president, has defended her about Benghazi, and defended Bill about his sexual escapades. He has no substance, just says what he will do with no particulars. He is so close to being Hillary that the differences in them are small.

  Polls have consistently shown she will beat him in an election, while Cruz and Rubio would beat her........ and yet Trump supporters blindly march on defending their candidate no matter what you bring up. Polls also show Trump has the most unfavorable rating of any candidate ever.....running in the 60%'s......and they think a man with that big of a majority of Americans disliking him will win?

   And I am expected to vote for this man if he wins the GOP nomination. A man who is barely the lesser evil, if he even is the lesser evil. There are things about him that are worse than Hillary, and there are things about her that are worse than he. I am expected to jump on what seems to surely be the losing side, just to appease the people who seemingly didn't know any better than to support him.

  I don't want a Hillary presidency. Neither do I want a Trump presidency. If I add up the reasons why I don't want to vote for them, the end result would be the same. If they were both an additional problem, the numbers being added up would vary and be different,  but the end result would be the same number. I may as well vote for her as him, for I would have the same regrets, I would be violating my beliefs, and I would be a hypocrite either way. Actually, I may be less of a hypocrite if I voted for her, taking into consideration my statements about the Democrats voting.

   If Republicans are too dense to learn from recent history and are bound to repeat history by not supporting and nominating a true conservative; that is on them. I do not have to ride the crazy train with them to destruction. Unfortunately, their poor choices and decision to go after the loud and shiny guy instead of substance, conservative,  and moral values is going to affect me and my freedoms.

    There is a possibility of 3 Supreme Court justices being replaced during the next presidential term. I shudder to think of the kind of judges Hillary would put on the bench. I also shudder to think of the kind of judges Donald Trump would put on the bench. He said his liberal pro-life sister would make a great Supreme Court justice. Sure, he later said she wouldn't,  but he changes views and positions so often, who knows what his view is on her being a Supreme Court justice.

  I don't view myself as any smarter than other people, but I do consider myself awake and informed. I have watched Donald Trump. I have listened to him. I have read up on his past of who he supported and what kind of man he was before he suddenly became a Republican. I am convinced he is still a liberal and will be just as bad for our country as Hillary will be. I cannot and will not vote for her, and I cannot and will not vote for him for the same reasons. Seriously, it is like putting two poisons in front of me and asking me which one I want to drink..... uh, neither!

  If Donald Trump is indeed the GOP nominee and runs against Hillary, I am convinced the polls are right and he will lose to her. Trump supporters will blame people like me for handing the election to Hillary. I disagree 100%. If that happens, it will be Trump supporters who will hand the election to Hillary as they ignore the flashing neon warning signs about their candidate, as they ignore all of the reasons he is a terrible candidate and unfit for the presidency, much less the GOP candidate, and as they ignore the polls saying he will lose to her.  If Trump and Hillary are the contenders and she does indeed win, it is the fault of those who decided they wanted the loudest candidate, and not one who has substance and a true plan.

  So no, I don't have to vote for the Republican candidate. Just because the Republicans are marching off a cliff does not mean I need to fall in line and do the same. Just because they pick the wrong candidate does not mean I chuck my belief system and principles and vote for the man they want against all common sense. I am a Christian and conservative with common sense, And those 3 C's will stop me from doing so. Good-bye Republican party. It was nice knowing you. This election could very well be the end of the Republican Party, and that may be what Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton intended all along.