This week, my newest book, "None of the Above: Why 2008 Is the Year To Cast the Ultimate Protest Vote," hits bookstores across America, while I begin a media tour to promote it.

I will be talking about many reasons for rejecting both major-party nominees for the presidency this year. Among them:

—Both Barack Obama and John McCain are unqualified and unfit for high office because they do not have foundational commitments to the U.S. Constitution's strict limitations on the federal government's power.

—By playing an active role in accepting either of these deeply flawed candidates, we set a new low standard for presidential candidates of the future; choices actually will get worse.

—Choosing between two candidates who have, in the final analysis, very few differences between them on the most important issues of the day is no choice at all, and the American people should demand better.

—By actively rejecting both candidates, Americans can make their voices heard in a powerful new way in 2008 by demonstrating a serious demand for more and better political choices in the future.

—No matter who wins between these two candidates, presidential policy is sure to be worse than under President Bush, who, in my opinion, represented objective failure in the White House. No American should choose to vote for a candidate who promises to take America in the wrong direction.

Those are some of the principles at stake in this election. But I'm not just expounding some theoretical notions with no concern for the pragmatic results. I actually believe that rejecting McCain and Obama is the right thing to do, the moral thing to do, and even the most politically expedient thing to do.

Only twice in my lifetime has America experienced the kind of clear political choice for president that I would like to see routinely — that we should expect to see routinely.

The first time that happened was in 1980, when Ronald Reagan captured the Republican nomination for the presidency and faced the incumbent at the time, Jimmy Carter. The second time was when Ronald Reagan ran as an incumbent president in 1984.

What was it that set us up for that memorable choice in 1980? I'll tell you what it was. It was four years of hapless Jimmy Carter working with a Congress dominated by his fellow Democrats.

I believe the best way to get another choice like we had in 1980 is for Americans to have the opportunity, if you want to call it that, of seeing someone very much like Carter back in the White House and working with a House and Senate dominated by his own party.

Don't get me wrong; I believe four years of Barack Obama would be terrible for America in the short term. But the suffering we would experience as a result of his governance could be very positive in the long term. Why? For the same reason the Jimmy Carter years were terrible in the short term and positive in the long term.

Obama's policies of taxing and spending and clamping down on freedom in health care and other areas would prove to be massively unpopular when Americans saw them fail, as these discredited ideas always do. Obama and the Democrats would try to blame past administrations for the problems, just as Jimmy Carter tried to do. They would try to blame the people, just as Jimmy Carter tried to do. But with Democrats running Congress and the White House, it would be easy for Americans to see who was really responsible.

I almost can promise you Barack Obama would not be elected to a second term. In all likelihood, he would pave the way for a real Republican president (just as Jimmy Carter did) in 2012 — if indeed there is one in the wings.

On the other hand, let's pretend John McCain wins the presidency in 2008. In all likelihood, there still would be a Congress dominated by Democrats. While U.S. policies under McCain and a Democratic Congress would be nearly equally disastrous, it would be the Republican president who would bear the brunt of the blame in 2012. Guess what we'd get then? We'd get Barack Obama anyway. Or, perhaps, Hillary Clinton.

In effect, by electing McCain, we only are delaying the inevitable day of reckoning. McCain won't change a thing. His election only would delay what almost certainly must come.

Politics is a cyclical business. People forget the lessons of the past. They need to relearn things that may appear obvious to some of us.

America has lurched toward socialism again, as it was moving in the 1970s. There are only two things that would reverse that in the short term:

—Seeing it at work with no one else to blame when it fails, as we did between 1976 and 1980.

—Having an opportunity to elect a visionary leader in the future who would help get America back on track, as Ronald Reagan did from 1981 through 1988.

I don't know whether there is a Ronald Reagan in the wings. I don't see him if he is there. But I hope you can see my point. If we are going to do better in the future, we must have higher standards for our politicians. Real standards never can be enforced when we routinely vote for the lesser of two evils.

Some undoubtedly will ask whether I am suggesting a Barack Obama presidency actually would be better for America than a John McCain presidency. The shocking answer to that question is "yes." I do believe America would be better off with Barack Obama in the White House for the next four years. Please understand I am not advocating voting for him. I never could do that. I could not affirmatively participate in that kind of evil. But I point this out simply to illustrate that voting for what appears to be the lesser of two evils actually can be detrimental to the health of the country; it actually can be the more evil thing to do.

That's why I believe the best thing Americans can do when they go to the polls this November is to vote for "None of the Above."

Joseph Farah's newest book, "None of the Above: Why 2008 Is the Year To Cast the Ultimate Protest Vote," is available now. To find out more about Joseph Farah and read features by other Creators Syndicate writers and cartoonists, visit the Creators Syndicate Web page at www.creators.com.

COPYRIGHT 2008 CREATORS SYNDICATE INC.