I can easily envision any number of events that would cause me to absolutely refuse to support even the candidates I like a great deal. If Bobby Jindal, let’s say, were to come out tomorrow and say that he would only nominate judges who promised to uphold Roe v. Wade, he would without question lose my support. If Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) 100% came out in favor of funding Planned Parenthood tomorrow, I would be done with Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) 100%. If Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL) 92% stated that his favorite President of all time was Jimmy Carter, that would be the last of Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL) 92% for me. If Carly Fiorina said that she believed that everyone should pay at least 30% of their income in federal taxes every year, I would quickly become an enemy of Carly Fiorina.

This is what distinguishes “voters” from “fans.” Fans don’t have to really ask these questions of themselves. I mean, there might be something that would cause me to stop being a fan of the Boston Red Sox, but it hasn’t happened yet, and after watching roughly half of my most beloved players end their careers in a Yankees uniform, I can say at this point that even if they traded Dustin Pedroia to the Yankees tomorrow I would still put on the big red “B” hat next year with hardly a second thought.

Voting, though, is at least theoretically supposed to be a different endeavor, especially for people who pride themselves on being the “reasonable” people in this country. It’s supposed to matter what candidates think, do, and say. There should be a point with literally every candidate where something they have done would push us over the edge to the point that we wouldn’t support them anymore.