I refuse to wait another four years for “the right candidate.”

In 2008, after eight years of George Bush (six of which I actually enjoyed) it seemed inevitable that our next president would be a Democrat. When the GOP decided it was John McCain’s “turn” there was no doubt about it.

As a newly minted conservative (having been a lifelong liberal) I was disappointed with my choice, but I agreed to hold my nose and vote McCain/Palin. Of course they never had a chance against  “President History”, but they wouldn’t have had much of a chance anyway. The entire country had Bush Fatigue and most elections are cyclical. It was time for a Democrat.

Many of us were certain Obama would be a disastrous president.

We just needed to make it through four years.

It wouldn’t be easy, but after Obamacare there was actually hope that Obama could be a one-term leader.

Then we got Romney. White-bread, plain Jane, milquetoast Romney. A younger McCain who – like his failed predecessor – refused to point out Obama’s flaws, thinking it would ingratiate him to those coveted undecided voters. I held my nose again and voted for Romney, then watched in bitter disappointment as he lost handily in 2012.

Fine. We just needed to make it through another four years and then not only would the election cycle shift to the Republicans, we might actually be able to float a real, aggressively conservative candidate given that the GOP’s last two “chosen ones” were so craptastically uninspiring. Riding the wave of tea party candidates from 2010 and 2012, there seemed like so many great options. 2016 would finally be the year of the conservative president.

Just four more years.

Now, here we are. We had an incredible (although annoyingly large) field of qualified, well-spoken, passionate candidates. The Democrats had a socialist, some other guy and Hillary Clinton – arguably the least popular Democrat candidate of all time.

I don’t need to rehash it all. You know what happened. After two cycles of limp-noodle candidates and an historic Congress that did absolutely zero to roll back Obamacare despite their mandate from the voters, GOP primary voters gave party leaders the middle finger.

Donald Trump.

In an election against a hugely disliked candidate that should have been easily won by a conservative candidate, this race is neck and neck. We will likely have another Clinton as the president and another Democrat cycle in the White House.

Everything in me says she is doomed to be a one term president. That’s a good thing  for the GOP.

Just four more years.

Here’s the thing…

In four years I will be 46. My eldest will be in college. My youngest will be in middle school. In four years I will probably have a new home, maybe even a new career. In four years my husband will be 50. FIFTY!

That’s four years of proms and bills and college applications and broken hearts.

Four years is an eternity when you’re waiting for administrations to change. It is but the blink of an eye when you’re raising a family.

I don’t have another four years to waste worrying and fretting over SCOTUS and a hostile Congress and a lazy GOP. I don’t have another four years to waste hoping and praying that the next cycle brings some change. I don’t have another four years to waste being angry at a government that will clearly never be on my side again and may have already signaled the decline of a great nation.

I don’t have it to give. I will probably never consider myself a Republican again, as I will never (NEVER) be a Democrat again. I’ve been let down by the hope of something greater too many times. I’ve spent too many years waiting.

I won’t waste these last precious years of child-rearing being a worrisome worry-wart wringing my hands until the next election.

For me, this is it. Politics will always interest me and I’ll always have opinions to share. I’ll always be interested in changing and shifting the culture.

What I won’t be doing is waiting. Whatever the results are tomorrow or in four years or in twelve years, it will all end up being the same for America. An apathetic voter population and woefully corrupt representatives who stay in their jobs forever have drained this country of too much promise. The 2016 election is a perfect representation of that.

The next four years won’t be my fault. I chose neither of these people, I will not be responsible for what they do in office.

I am going to spend the next four years raising my family and enjoying these last years together as one unit. I’m going to fight to stay afloat like I’ve been fighting for the last 8 years. I’m going to pray and serve my God and understand that I am only one woman. The fate of our entire nation cannot rest on my shoulders alone simply because I’m not holding my nose and pulling the lever anymore.

Maybe we’ll get a great, fun challenger in 2020. Maybe I’ll feel inspired at the polls for once. Maybe someone will come and really turn back this tide of legal oppression that is quickly killing off the middle class. That would be great and I’ll happily vote for that person.

But I’m finished waiting for that person. My time is too valuable.