Voting Early.

Yep. I did it. I cast my vote, as early voting runs through October 31 here in Amarillo. Mrs. Digital and I headed over to the mall and cast our votes for President, Senator, Representative, and a slew of local offices.

You might expect, given that I am a proud conservative, that I voted the straight Republican ticket.

And you’d be wrong.

Gentle readers, I said a few weeks ago (during the Wall Street mess) that I could no longer vote in good conscience for Senator Cornyn or Representative Thornberry, because they voted FOR the bailout, even when their constituent mail ran 80% against. If I thought either man was voting their conscience, I might cut them some slack, but neither have distinguished themselves in office, unless you consider “going along to get along” a Red (State) Badge of Courage.

Their behavior caused something of a trickle-down effect in local office races, too. Normally, I try to be an informed voter, learning as much as I can about each race, and vote for the candidate – not the party.

Not this time.

I suggested that everyone vote AGAINST putting an incumbent back in office. And I meant it. As often as I could, I voted to send a message – that the status quo is NOT good enough. My votes were anti-status quo.

Wherever possible, I voted Libertarian. And, of course, I voted, proudly, for Sarah Palin (and that McCain guy).

Now, I’m not for the Libertarian party, which seems to be the last refuge of every whack job in politics. However, I like the idea of a strong third party, and the principle of LESS government. Frankly, I think we’d ALL be better off if the government stuck to things like defense, roads, and public service, and got out of entitlements – and our wallets – all together. I’m not sure if voting for a Libertarian will get us any closer to that goal, but I’ve had it with the only two choices we seem to get. There’s got to be something better than a Democrat party that wants to take us down the road to Socialism, and a Republican party that claims they support smaller government, less spending, and lower taxes – but in fact don’t behave any different from the Democrats.

Maybe this time around, they’ll get the message – we’re all mad as Hell and we’re not gonna take it any more.

But I doubt it.