Why I'm not voting for president

In case you missed it, below is my short piece in The American Conservative explaining why I'm not going to cast a presidential vote this year. See the entire symposium here. My part:

This will be the first year since I was old enough to vote that I will not cast a ballot in a presidential election. I quote a character from Richard Linklater's "Slacker" in my defense: "Withdrawing in disgust is not the same thing as apathy."

I can't vote for Barack Obama. He is a pro-abortion zealot and wrong on all the issues that matter most to social conservatives. Mind you, one should not be under any illusion that things will markedly improve under another Republican administration. But there is no question that on issues related to the sanctity of life and traditional marriage, an Obama administration, with a Democratic Congress at its back, would be far worse.

The best case that can be made for John McCain is that he would serve as something of a brake on runaway liberalism. But the country would be at significantly greater risk of war with the intemperate and bellicose McCain in the White House. That was clear months ago, but his conduct during the fall campaign--especially contrasted with Obama's steadiness--has made me even more uneasy. His selection of Sarah Palin, while initially heartening to populist-minded social conservatives, has proved disastrous. Though plainly a politician of real talent, the parochial Palin is stunningly ill-suited for high office, and that's a terrible mark against McCain's judgment.

As both a conservative and a Republican, I confess that we deserve to lose this year. We have governed badly and have earned the wrath of voters, who will learn in due course how inadequate the nostrums of liberal Democrats are to the crisis of our times. If I cannot in good faith cast a vote against the Bush years by voting for Obama, I can at least do so by withholding my vote from McCain.

While it is foolish to look forward to a decisive electoral defeat for one's side, I can't say that the coming rout will be a bad thing. The Right desperately needs to repent, rethink, and rebuild--and only the pain of a shattering loss will force conservatives to confront reality. Not only must there be a renewal of our political vision and message--and this time, dissenters from within the Right must be heard--but there must also be a realization at the grassroots that we have long given too much importance to politics and not enough to building cultural institutions at the local level.