How far does one stick to his principles? What is worth breaking your word for? As Election Day approaches, these are the questions that plague me. For nearly two years, I have said that I would not vote for John McCain, just as I would not have Rudy Giuliani, Mike Huckabee or any other Liberal Republican. I would even have preferred to see Hillary Clinton in the White House, betting that there would be enough opposition to her in House and Senate to keep the Federal government in stalemate for the next four years.

Sadly, it looks as though the Republicans are going to lose enough seats in the Senate to give the Democrats a filibuster-proof majority. Even if my most optimistic projections come true, the Democrats will have 55 seats, and there are certainly more then five Republicans Liberal enough -- or craven enough -- to vote with them on the important issues. Moreover, Pennsylvania is actually a swing state this time around -- as much due to McCain's being too much of a Democrat as it is to Obama's being too much of a Marxist who wants to "spread the wealth around," ruin small business owners, drive large business overseas and bankrupt the coal industry with his cap and trade policy. All but the most committed Leftists want to be able to afford electricity more than a few hours a day, after all.

So the choice comes down to this: cast my vote for someone who cannot win, or help a Republican who barely deserves the label into office, where he can wreak domestic havoc almost as badly as the Democrat surely will -- and sign it "Love, the Republican Party." If I do so, I must surrender my adherence to principle and go back on my word.

Damn you, John McCain. Damn you, Republican party. You aren't worthy of sacrificing my self-respect for. If I vote for McCain, I won't be able to look myself in the mirror. It will be hard to accept having knowingly enabled him to promote global warming hysteria, attack corporations, raise taxes on "the rich," work with his "good friends across the aisle" to ensure that judicial nominees are acceptable to both sides, prevent our intelligence services from using effective interrogation methods, grant civil rights to captured terrorists and push for more government control over everything from baseball to the banking industry. And when his amnesty-that's-not-amnesty ushers in tens of millions of new voters looking for handouts, who will Americans blame for selling their country out to foreign nationals? John McCain, who promised La Raza (the Hispanic version of the KKK) just a few months ago that he was still committed to his "comprehensive immigration reform" package.

But what if I don't vote for McCain? How can I knowingly allow the country to be ruled by the Marxist Barack Obama and a filibuster-proof majority in the Senate? If I could be sure that there would be enough real Republicans left after the election to stop the Obamessiah's destructive policies, I could relax and watch the fireworks as Left and Right stand deadlocked for four years. I can't bank on that. If we're lucky, there will be enough solid Republicans left after the election to get up a decent football game. The rest will be McCain-style "moderates" who care more about looking good on camera and getting favorable press coverage than doing what's right for the country. With the likes of Barack Obama pushing European Socialism at every opportunity, we'll be lucky if anyone has a private-sector job left in four years. And Obama's attitude toward gun owners and unborn babies are as loathsome as his desire to make peace with the world's worst dictators.

If Pennsylvania were not a swing state, my vote probably wouldn't matter, and I could vote my conscience with a light heart. But McCain has been surging here lately, despite the media's many oversampled and desperate push-polls. It's down to the wire. More than ever before, my vote matters.

I suppose the best argument I can make to convince myself to vote McCain is this: do I want to let America take a mortal wound by my inaction, or deal it a blow that I hope is merely critical? Allowing Obama to ruin this country may be too heavy a price to pay for my principles. If I force myself to vote for McCain, I am agreeing to the harm he will cause this country. But can I live myself if I stand by and allow Obama to utterly destroy it?