For conservatives, this election season has been disappointing thus far, with no true conservative standard bearer coming forward. Now with the anointing of Mitt Romney as the Republican nominee, after Rick Santorum’s exit Tuesday, there is much to be concerned about.

Romney has a series of problems as a candidate. First, he is not a conservative. Many claim this, including many on the left who call him ‘far right,’ but being a Republican or simply the alternative to Obama doesn’t make you a conservative. Romney certainly has conservative tendencies, but accompanying those are progressive tendencies.

There are also the issues Romney has that are most often talked about. He’s trailing significantly with both women and youth in recent polls. Among men, he holds a high single-digit lead, but when it comes to enthusiasm, he is still lacking. The good thing for Romney is he can now focus almost exclusively on President Barack Obama for the next seven months and work to chip away at these portions of the electorate.

For the conservative, there is a decision to be made, and a difficult one at that. In the absence of a conservative candidate, do you sit out in protest or support the candidate that is far from the ideal but better than the alternative. This is a decision many conservatives have struggled with in the past months, while knowing, but not wanting to accept, that yet again the party conservatives’ call home would not have a conservative nominee.

The fact of the matter is this campaign cycle is too important to the future of the country to sit out. The 2010 midterm elections were touted by conservatives as one of the most important in history because of the speed at which Obama and the democratically controlled Congress were implementing their progressive vision for the country. This was largely stopped on the congressional level after conservative Republicans took back the House of Representatives in that election.

This election is important in a similar way to the 2010 midterms, but instead of stopping Congress it’s about stopping the president. The modern administrative state has enormous authority that is not controlled by Congress. The president, being the head of this bureaucracy, has the power to make drastic changes to the country. Even with a Republican controlled House and possibly a Republican takeover in the Senate, a re-elected Obama will be able to implement and solidify his health care legislation, add to already stifling regulations on the economy and continue to ignore the dire fiscal situation the country is in.

The 2012 elections are not about one man; it never was. The elections are about stopping the slide of the country.

It’s not about Romney; he’s not the solution to the progressive takeover of America, rather the quick fix. Likewise, it’s not about Obama; he’s part of the problem and the first obstacle on the road back to a more prosperous and free country. This election is about stopping America’s decline because if the country continues down its current path for four more years it may be too late.

Patrick Mocete is a senior political science and policy studies major. His column appears every Thursday. He can be reached at pdmocete@syr.edu.  

Published on April 11, 2012 at 12:00 pm