A polite question, so I’ll be happy to answer as politely as I can.
I don’t share your unstated premise that a completely unrestrained willard in office would be all that much better than a somewhat restrained hussein. As a matter of fact in the long run willard may be worse. Let me give you an example. Just today willard was talking about repealing and REPLACING obamacare. Not just repealing. It makes you wonder...just what is the architect of romneycare planning to replace it with? Whatever it is, his replacement plan will not have any significant opposition from the gop.
One comment I see a lot on FR is that conservative will “hold willards feet to the fire.” Really? Precisely who will be doing that? John boehner? Mitch mcconnell?
And in the long term having willard as President will make it that much harder to elect actual conservatives in the future. The gop-e will see no reason to elect them and for good or bad, willard will be associated with conservatism. We’ve already seen how much damage the not conservative GW Bush did with things like TARP. And willard on his better days isn’t even as conservative as GW Bush was. Conservatives already have a tough sell in a country where less than 50% of the populace pays income taxes. And we want willard to be the de facto spokesman for conservatism?
I realize that its a bitter pill to swallow, but conservatives have already lost the presidential election. In my view we lost it the day willard effectively won the nom. Bitter as that may be, it is somewhat liberating as it does allow you to pick someone whose political views are similar to your own. So I’ll vote my values even if I realize that my candidate has little chance of winning.
I absolutely agree that we should think strategically. My strategy is to see conservatism win in the long run.
Don't over-think what I said. By looking for an "unstated premise" you have completely missed the point, to wit:
Voting third party is a meaningless gesture and will accomplish nothing positive. Without access to the mega millions of dollars that flood the major party candidates' war chests, a third party candidate has no chance of winning. Voting for Goode/Clymer is effectively the same as staying home.
Regards,
GtG