Your points are valid, and I am glad to hear you did not vote for Kerry.
However, defense issues should come first and foremost in my opinion, given the events of the last 4 years.
I am glad you voted with your heart in the last election.
You can keep your hands and integrity clean and pure voting for your heart, while the rest of us will live with our "dirty" hands for voting for Bush.
For your part, you will get to reap the benefits of having a Republican in office (and not a weak, military and America-hating Democrat) and still be able to say you are are more informed voter, whose hands were not soiled by having to pull the lever for a fiscal liberal like President Bush.
I apologize if this sounds harsh, but I am glad there were not more of you voting as you did in the last election. This is not meant as a personal attack on you, because you sound pretty earnest about your viewpoint, and I respect that. However, I think you should have given more thought to the consequences of your vote.
I voted for Ross Perot, and I regret to this day doing so. Perot paved the way for Clinton to enter the White House, and in voting for him I helped Clinton do the damage to our country that he did.
It could very nearly have happened in this election, if there had been a more compelling 3rd party candidate. The thought makes me shudder.
"It could very nearly have happened in this election,"
Not here in GA.
"The thought makes me shudder."
As the thoughts of perpetual war, perpetual occupation, spiralling deficits, illegal immigration, and a collapsing dollar make me shudder. But hey- at least those gays still can't get married! Whew!!