Regular readers of mine, whether here or at my Survival-Gear.com blog, have noticed I rarely make political comments. The primary reason for that is my opinion shouldn’t matter much to anyone other than myself. What I mean by that is, everyone should formulate their own opinion on the Presidential election, based on their own research and such. You shouldn’t cast your vote for a particular person or party just because some blogger online said you should.

However, due to the heightened tensions with the election next month, I get asked frequently for my opinion as a prepper/survivalist. Who do I think is the best choice for our country?

What follows will be the one and only time I comment on the 2012 Presidential election. Agree or disagree, you’re entitled to your opinion just like I am to mine.

I believe our country may be too far gone at this point for anyone to be able to turn it around. And it is our own fault, really. For the last few decades, we’ve allowed ourselves to be coddled. We’ve become a nation of “me monkeys.” Me, me, me, me, want, want, want. Can’t afford the rent but buying a new 72″ TV on credit. Using public assistance to buy lobster tail and Doritos.

It really got out of control during the housing bubble. Look, if you truly believed you could afford that $450k mortgage while you’re making $18k a year waiting tables, you’re too freakin’ stupid to be allowed to walk around unsupervised in public. But people were blinded by their greed. They wanted the big house to show off to their friends. Look at me, look at me! Then, when the bubble burst, which any 8 year old could have predicted, sobs were heard throughout the land. These idiots just couldn’t fathom how this could have happened. Apparently not one of them passed 5th grade math.

Unemployment has skyrocketed in the last several years. Part of the reason for that is more and more companies are moving operations to other countries. When was the last time you called a customer service number and got someone you were reasonably certain was located anywhere within the continental United States? Yes, I’m aware that most companies will transfer you to a domestic operator upon request. My point is, I shouldn’t have to do that in the first place! These companies became successful because Americans bought their products. Americans built their factories. The employees were largely American. As a thank you for making them successful, the companies move their business operations overseas, as that increases their bottom line. Thousands and thousands of Americans are out of work because of this. What do we do about it? Not a damn thing. We’re too busy watching Honey Boo Boo to care.

We have countless Americans who can’t afford decent health care. Thousands of good, law-abiding citizens who can’t get hired to push a broom, let alone bring home a living wage. Ungodly numbers of people who will likely never see so much as a single Social Security check when they retire.

Yet, politicians are set for life. Most of them are already staggeringly wealthy before they get elected. Then, we set them up with stellar health care plans, obscene retirement packages, and grossly inflated salaries. All so they have the privilege of deciding what is best for the common person? These folks are so out of touch with reality, they might as well live on the damn moon!

Think about this for a second. When was the last time we had a Presidential election and you truly, deeply, and honestly wanted a particular candidate to win? When was the last time you felt strongly that one particular person was THE BEST CHOICE for this country? Hasn’t happened in my lifetime, that’s for sure, at least not that I can recall. Elections for a long time now have been just a contest of deciding who is going to suck the least. The old “lesser of two evils” thing.

Now, don’t get me wrong. I still feel the United States is the best country on the planet and I sure wouldn’t want to live anywhere else. But, this country has become sort of like a computer that has become overloaded with data and has insufficient available memory. The only real solution is to do a complete reformat of the hard drive. There is not a single politician in office today who I feel can be trusted or who I feel truly has our best interests in mind.

Not a damn one of them.

I think the best solution might be to just vote them ALL out of office and start with new folks. Hell, they could hardly screw things up more than the current ones have.

When it comes to politics, I consider myself to be agnostic. I do believe there is the perfect political party out there somewhere, but I haven’t found it yet. As for the upcoming election, I can’t say I fully support any of the candidates. Each of them has at least a few qualities I’d want in a President but each also has a whole lot of negative baggage.

I’ll close by saying this — no matter who you plan to vote for, get out there and cast your ballot. While we bitch and moan about whoever occupies the Oval Office, we still at least have the right to vote for the candidate of our choice. If you don’t vote, then as far as I’m concerned, you don’t get to complain. To put it another way, people gave their very lives to give you the right to vote. To not exercise that right is to insult the memory of those who made the ultimate sacrifice.