This year's presidential election should go down as one of the worst in U.S. history. Two seriously flawed candidates, Republican Donald Trump and Democrat Hillary Clinton, top the tickets of the two major parties, so even voting for the lesser of two evils isn't an option for many voters. The other options, not voting for a president or voting for a third-party candidate or a write-in candidate, aren't advisable, as it's akin to throwing away one's vote.

So voters are left with either Mr. Trump or Mrs. Clinton.

Americans feel abandoned

In striving to make a recommendation, however, there is one thing that many Americans can agree on - the political establishment in Washington has been asleep at the wheel for too long and needs a major shake up and course correction to get this nation back on track. The feeling that our national leaders have abandoned America's working class has fueled Trump's come-from-nowhere campaign.

So the question becomes which of the two major party's candidates is better suited to shake up the status quo in Washington?

In our view, there is only one candidate with the will and the ability to shake up Washington: Donald Trump.

This recommendation isn't a comfortable call, but it is in keeping with this newspaper's center-right tradition and with the conservative Republican philosophy of our newspaper's family ownership. Our initial preference would be to not make any endorsements in this race, but that would be ducking our responsibility. If our thoughts encourage voters to do more thinking before they vote, then so much the better. An informed electorate remains the cornerstone of our democracy.

Trump's campaign theme, "Make America Great Again," is a message designed to appeal to voters, on the right and the left and in the middle, who believe it's time for real change in our nation's leadership, not four more years of the same. Many of them are the lost Americans who feel they have been forgotten or betrayed by their leaders, Republican as well as Democratic, who should pay for the false promises to boost the economy and create jobs, to reduce poverty and to end corruption. They are sick of party hacks and the career politicians who have been their stooges and crave a fresh new start.

Throw the rascals out

That's why many Republican voters were drawn to Trump's campaign and why many Democrats viewed Mr. Sanders as their savior. Voters are sick of the elites picking the same old tired candidates with the same tired message. Americans are ready for a president who's revolutionary, a leader who will turn Washington on its ear and throw the rascals out.

With Clinton as president, voters can be assured of getting more of the same - a four-year extension of the failed Obama administration, which means more excessive spending and more regulations that will suck the life out of our free enterprise system.

With Trump, almost nothing is assured. He has astounded and confounded people since he announced his candidacy in June of 2015. He's also wrong about some things.

The New York businessman is horribly wrong, even repulsive, when he denigrates woman and minorities. His swaggering, braggadocio tendency is off-putting. Americans put more stock in deeds, not words. He's definitely wrong about the need to rewrite the nation's libel laws that will make it harder for newspapers to do their jobs. He's not a Mr. Fix-it who can fix all the nation's problems all by his lonesome.

Trump gets it right

But give Trump his due. He may be a crude blowhard at times, but he's also right about a lot of things.

For example, he's right that too many of America's good-paying jobs have been shipped overseas and that too many American companies have been sheltering their money and profits offshore to the detriment of the American economy.

Trump is right that America's leadership role in the world, and in shaping our nation's destiny, has been diminishing, while the influence of our enemies -Russia, China and Iran -has been rising, which is dangerous to our long-term national security.

He's correct in saying that our immigration system is broken.

He's right that the nation's crushing debt threatens our quality of life and that of our children and grandchildren.

He's 100 percent right when he says our leaders in Washington have proven themselves incapable of fixing these and other problems. Nothing will change if Hillary Clinton is elected president. And given her penchant for extreme secrecy, mistrust of Washington is likely to get worse if she wins the White House and is running the executive branch.

With Trump in the Oval Office, at least there's a chance of more hopeful outcomes for our nation. Yes, he might stumble and break things along the way, like past new presidents have done. But our nation has shown that it is strong and resilient enough to survive a rookie president.

And honestly, we don't believe Trump will be the disaster that many Clinton fans predict, especially if Democrats manage to capture a majority of the Senate, a real possibility.

We've watched the same wretched presidential campaign as our readers. And yes, we're sickened by it, too.

We can't wait for Nov. 8 to get here and for all this misery to end.

But to change the culture of our miserable politics, it's necessary to change the culture in the epicenter of our national politics: Washington, D.C. Donald Trump gets zero points for style.

But when it comes to substance, for talking bluntly about what is wrong and for inspiring more Americans to participate in the political process, he is the better candidate to shake up Washington and lead this country.