I will vote straight down the party line this November, only making exceptions in cases where I have personal knowledge as to the virtue or villainy of a particular candidate. However, the Imp of the Perverse in me is hoping the Republicans maintain control of the congress and that Mr. Bush maintains his majority. At the risk of sounding cynical, this lameduck presidency will have all the excuses it needs to justify any disasters that might occur during his last two yerars, and any successes will be paraded about endlessly without any role a Democratic congressional majority might have played in them.

The nation deserves a clear choice in 2008, and it would serve us well in the long run if the Republicans have a solid 8 years of complete control to be able to implement their vision for America. If they succeed in keeping the electorate with them, then so be it. If not, there will be no excuses, no second guessing, no finger pointing. They will have had their chance just like Bill Clinton had his. If the situation in 2008 is as disastrous as I expect it is going to be, it is going to take a lot of work and solid electoral support at all levels to repair the damage, dismantle the Neocon political program once and for all and try something else. Anything else.

Unless the Right can turn it around between now and the 2008 election, there will be a lot of justifications put forth why things have gotten so out of control, but 8 years is plenty of time to have done something about it, and for the people to have a chance to really understand the consequences of an ideologically-driven presidency. The conservatives deserve that chance, all administrations have their ups and downs and are buffeted by unanticipated disasters and windfalls; if they succeed then maybe they deserve the triumph. If not, they certainly deserve oblivion. After all, we don't accept excuses from athletic coaches for 8 losing seasons, or generals who can't win an 8 year war, and we fire business executives who can't turn a profit after 8 years.

My only fear is that the pendulum will swing too far the other way after America recoils from the incompetence and bullheadedness of the Bush team and the nastiness of the Neocon/Fundamentalist coalition. The good is always thrown out with the bad whenever there is a complete changing of the guard, and the extremists on either side always prosper. In 2008 America will have the opportunity to compare, side by side, the Clinton and Bush years.

For me, the failure of the current administration is not just how they have savaged my values, it is how they have betrayed their own.