Well, it seems as though we have finally picked nominees for the two major parties, and I have been discussing politics for two months without touching the most pressing political issue of the day.  I would be remiss if I covered politics and did not talk about the ongoing race for the most influential political office in the country, if not the world.  The real reason I haven’t been very vocal on the subject is fairly simple:  I don’t like either candidate.

Unfortunately, given the way the American system works, we really only have the two choices.  When given two bad choices, a rational person will pick the lesser of two evils.  So I have to ask the question: which is the least objectionable candidate?

As of right now, and baring some sort of unimaginable revelation I’ll be voting for McCain, but that doesn’t mean I like him.  It means I don’t like Obama more.  I’ll get to the nitty gritty analysis of each candidate later, but for now I’ll explain how I’ve come to my decision.

As a conservative, three most important issues to me, in no particular order, are taxes, the economy, and the civil liberties of average American citizens.  I am singularly concerned with the preservation of America as the land of opportunity.  I believe that very mildly regulated free market capitalism is the single best vehicle of opportunity, and that all Americans should have access to those opportunities.  There are other issues to consider, of course, but in my mind no other is as important.

The government is responsible for regulation of that free market economy.  No one should have the opportunity to lie, cheat, or steal their way to success, and realistically the government is really the only institution with the power and the legitimate authority to regulate the dollar, and balance inflation and economic health with interest rates.  The government is also responsible for the enforcement of contracts by providing a functioning, fair, and effective civil court system.  Likewise, more common crime is a part of the government’s domain.  Everyone has an inalienable right to defend themselves, and the government as an insurer of inalienable rights has the obligation to do whatever is in its power to curtail violence and vandalism.

I also believe that government has the ability (and therefore something of a responsibility) to look out for the greater good of its citizens.  The problem with this belief is that it is nebulous and subjective.  It is sometimes hard to pin down just exactly what I think fits under this broad header – and really, when one starts talking about the “greater good” one could, with a liberal helping of propaganda, justify just about anything.

So how does that factor in to picking a president?

The president has four main powers: veto, control over the military, control over the bureaucracy, and the podium.  There are others, of course, but they are largely independent of who the president is.  No president will refuse to declare a state of emergency in the event of a natural disaster.  The president can negotiate treaties, propose the budget, and nominate appointed positions, but they all require approval by congress.

When evaluating a presidential candidate, the best way to approach the subject is to ask how that candidate would act when faced with situations within his control.  What legislation would he veto?  What military policy does he advocate?  What sorts of people will work for him?  What sorts of directives will he give to the bureaucracy?  And lastly, what will he use his position as figurehead of the American government to advocate?

The president is largely responsible for setting the tone and the agenda for the government as a whole.  The issues that are important to the president are pushed until they are brought to a vote.  Issues that the president does not support drop to the bottom of the priority ladder due to the threat of veto.

So the best way to evaluate a candidate is to 1) identify the issues that he is passionate about, because those are the issues that will become the bills that he will either push to the floor of congress or veto 2) identify the types of people that he trusts and respects, because they’ll be the types of people that find themselves running the bureaucracy 3) identify how the candidate will handle the military 4) identify how the candidate will handle the pulpit and lastly, because no one is perfect 5) identify which of the candidates you despise the least.

Tune in on Thursday, when I go down the list, issue by issue, and explain why I hate the Republican nominee, John McCain.  And tune in next week, when I explain why I hate the Democratic nominee, Barack Obama.  And then if I still have your attention, I’ll explain why I hate McCain less than Obama.