Time to Vote 3rd Party?

I have voted Democratic in the last two Presidential elections.  I have done this not because I believe in Democratic politics but because I simply can't get behind the affiliation that the Republican party has with the Religious Right.  You see, I'm an arrogant son of a bitch.  I'm pretty sure I know what is best for me.  Notice I said for me.  I believe others know what is best for them.  I can not stand the idea that others think they know what is best for me.  This includes who I decide to sleep with and if I decide to have kids.  Now John McCain had been more in the middle for lots of these social issues, but he has had to move decidedly to the right to appease this faction of his party.  This act does not sit too well with me because I believe a leader has to stand for what he believes in and have others follow, not the other way around.

The other problem I have with McCain is his age and his health.  However awful that may sound, it is a serious concern for me.  It wouldn't normally be except for one thing, Sarah Palin.  This women seriously scares the hell out of me.  I can't imagine her being the leader of the free world.  We would be one heart attack from her in the Oval Office.  She is simply not qualified to be there and there is no way I'm going to put her that close.

Unfortunately for me, in this country, I have a problem with the other side, the Democrats.  While Republicans want to tell me I'm evil for my moral beliefs, Democrats tell me I'm evil for my financial beliefs.  One party wants to tell me how to live my life, the other wants to tell me how to spend my money.  If you know me, you know that these are pretty much the same thing to me.  Obama's plans to put a punitive tax on the oil companies, to tax "the rich", and to eliminate taxes for a large group of Americans.  All these ideas just drive me crazy, and put us down a very slippery path to a managed economy.  I might be able to overlook these except for the last one.  I strongly believe in broadening the tax base, not shrinking it.  This does not mean tax the poor, but it does mean that we are all in this together.

Even given these major problems I have with Obama, I still might give him my vote.  He is, at the very least, charasmatic and a strong leader.  For someone to be a great leader, you don't necessarily have to believe in  everything they believe in.   None of the third party candidates really excite me.  The Libretarian Party is the one that is closest to my beliefs, but I'm unaligned with them on other issues as well and I just don't know enough about them to be convinced they deserve my vote.  The biggest benefit of me doing this would be to throw my support behind a third party to hopefully show that a third party is actually viable in this country.  I think we would be much better off if we had three major parties rather than two.  The way we have it today forces the candidates to pander to the middle and often give us what we have today, the choice of whichever is the lesser evil.

I would love to not cast a vote for any candidate, but that would be the easy way out, and I don't like taking the easy way out.