So here’s what this election doesn’t boil down to:

Not if Paul Ryan is an ideologically pure conservative. Because, let’s face it, the only person who will ever pass your own ideological purity test is yourself.

Not if Paul Ryan has voted in the past in ways we don’t like. Because even Reagan was once a Democrat.

Not if Rand Paul would have made a better VP choice. Because as a right-leaning libertarian, that was my hope, too. I wanted Rand Paul on the ticket to bring in the libertarian votes and the people who felt like Ron Paul got shafted along the way. I wanted Rand Paul for the people who felt like our Constitution is getting torn to shreds and who feel like they’re not being listened to and the people who have lost all faith in our government, but in Ron Paul’s run, saw hope.

What it does boil down to is the future of our kids. We cannot continue this path and four more years of Obama is four more years that we cannot afford. We cannot afford four more years of Eric Holder and more scandals like Fast and the Furious, or the suppression of voter ID laws.
We cannot afford four more years of Janet Napolitano and the increasing erosion of our Constitutional rights. We cannot afford four more years of Harry Reid refusing to even consider a budget or four more years of Nancy “You have to pass that bill to know what’s in it” or four more years of governing by executive fiat. We cannot afford four more years with the possibility of Obama getting at least two more Supreme Court justice nominees.

And that’s why I’m a big fan of Paul Ryan. I’ve made no secret to my friends and family that Romney wasn’t my first choice…or second…or third. Romney to me was just one more election offering of Juan McLame, ready to be another squishy RINO and do anything he had to do in order to get elected.

But Paul Ryan is young. He has kids not much older than mine. He understands budgets (don’t make me dig up the link from the House Budget Committee’s proposal last year!). He understands taking risks to save this country, and he understands that if we don’t fix Medicare and Social Security NOW (like, right now if not yesterday), the promises that were made to mine and my parents’ generation (that’s his generation too!) won’t be there.

Sure, I could pull the lever for Gary Johnson, a.k.a. The Second Coming of Ross Perot. And some will say that if I had any principles at all, that since I’m in a “safe” state I could write in the candidate of my choice. But, see, I don’t care that Texas isn’t in play, and my principles at this moment are defined by my children, and that I am terrified they won’t grow up as I did, knowing that America was the greatest nation in the world. I want to see this election go to Romney-Ryan in a landslide. I want it to be 1980 and 1984 again (electorally speaking, of course), and I want to tuck my kids in bed at night, knowing that the American flag and our Constitution are strong enough to protect them.

That’s why I love the “Hey, girl, it’s Paul Ryan” memes. Is it harmless entertainment? To some. But there are people who see those photos, who have no idea who Paul Ryan is, who maybe (just maybe!), might go look and see what this is all about. There are people who see those cute, catchy photos of our potential vice president and think, “Hey, he is kind of just like us.” And there are people like myself and my girlfriends, who post them on each other’s Facebook walls during the day just to make each other smile. If nothing else, it’s free name recognition and advertising—and after the 2008 election, I won’t discount what a handsome face and name recognition can accomplish.

So, maybe Paul Ryan isn’t perfect. But he’s a heck of a lot better than the alternative, and no one wants to see a “Hey, girl, it’s Joe Biden” meme. Let’s focus on winning the 2012 election together and voting out Obama-Biden. Sniping about how Paul Ryan just isn’t conservative enough isn’t going to do anything but fuel the opposition. Not when Paul Ryan just might be conservative enough to save America—and that’s what this election is going to come down to.

And if that makes me a Ryan girl, so be it.