Authored by my brother-in-law...

"None of the Above" is not an Answer.

It rarely is correct on multiple-choice exams, and is never viable in real life.

Never.

As in, not even once.

There's a common hypothetical loose in the world, often trotted out in the job interview process, asking whether the candidate would prefer the super power of flight or invisibility.

To that question, my answer would be that I'd prefer the ability to end counterfactuality once and for all to both of those combined.
"None of the above" is counterfactual thought. 

This essay is provoked by a friend who feels so upset that he won't vote for anyone this November. He despises President Obama, loathes Romney, and thinks Ron Paul is crazy. (Like that proverbial stopped clock, he gets one more chance to be right today.)
Has President Obama magically made everything better? 

Of course not.

Is he still far, far better to have in the Oval Office than Willard Romney?

If this is even a real question to you, stop reading this and go unfriend me. Do it now. I won't miss you, really. 

It's time for Americans to grow up. Learn the difference between a friend who disappoints you now and then and a sworn enemy. (For purposes of this discussion, the escaped lunatic - Ron Paul - can be dismissed out of hand.)

Everything you claim to dislike about President Obama would be magnified a hundredfold under a near-unthinkable President Romney. War? Check. Rich getting richer? Check. Women's rights? Gone. Immigration, legal or otherwise? Who knows - Romney himself can't, or won't, come clean on that one. The advances recently made in society by gays? Gone. Your pension? Gone. Social Security? Gone.

These are not abstractions. This is what Romney and the Republicans want to do.

And then there are those pesky state elections. How'd sitting things out to "teach Obama a lesson" work out for you in 2010? Feel better about things now, do you?

If you want more of the same, if you think Scott Walker's naked corruption in Wisconsin, Rick Snyder's usurpation of local governments through appointed "emergency management", or Rick Scott's racist voter purges in Florida are just fine, then sit on your hands again.

Not voting does not equal a choice. Not voting leaves the choice to those who do.

"None of the above" is not a choice.