[...] As I commented earlier in the week at Sundry’s blog, there is not a lot of incentive to vote here in my little blue state, and the lopsidedness leaves me feeling rather disenfranchised. I know my vote doesn’t make a difference here. So in addition to voting, isn’t there something else I could have done? Yes, of course there was, I could have voiced my opinion sooner and more often to more people. [...]

I think, personally, (and I’m aware this isn’t my blog so perhaps my opposing opinion should just go away and if that’s the case then I will) that it is our “right” to vote.

I have the right to have an abortion or not. How would I like it if I were told I HAD to or I was an idiot if I didn’t? I have the right to marry or not. Again, same argument. I have many rights. How is any of it anything to do with anyone else?

If one is pro life one might argue how it is their business. If one is against same sex marriage one might argue that it is their business who I marry. (though I am married to a man so as not to mislead anyone) But is it anything to do with someone who does not agree?

I feel that when we put a “must” on anyone’s rights we ask for imposition on our own.

My brother in law told me when Obama won, it would be “all my fault” and when my property taxes went sky high and I couldn’t afford to live in my house any more he would let me and my children live in the street.

I had another woman tell me that if McCain won and we had WW3 it would be my fault, too. Because he is just Bush the second. Plus Obama is friends with tear wrists.

Why? I wanted to vote third party and that damned their favorite guy to losing, apparently.

And if voting third party is “throwing away my vote” like so many would have me believe? I can see why one wouldn’t vote if I didn’t like the two “big name” candidates.

Now, that said? I did vote. And I don’t think for one second it was wasted. As John Quincy Adams said, “Always vote for principle, though you may vote alone, and you may cherish the sweetest reflection that your vote is never lost.”

I am a fan of your writing so I do not wish to come off hostel. Just trying to offer another perspective. Hopefully it will be met as that. Another perspective. It’s definitely not an attack. As I said, totally a fan.

I think that it is saying something to not vote if you don’t back either candidate. To me, I GIVE someone my vote, and that means something. I think it would be very interesting if in addition to the write-in, there was a “none of the above” option. That way your vote would say “I don’t want any of these candidates to be president.”

True, you will probably never find someone that you agree with 100%, but if you seriously don’t want any of the candidates elected, you should be able to say so.

No, seriously — I stood for over an hour in line in my podunk little SC town where my vote theoretically doesn’t contribute to anything anyway, but dadGUM it felt good to press that button (@SART).

In other news, something you said on your blgo really resonated with me. You wrote about how great it is to make your body your ally not your enemy. That comment really, uh, kind of shook me up, because it made me realize that I have treated my body like the enemy that has to be beaten into submissions. This takes a lot of energy, is difficult to sustain, and makes me unhappy. I can’t say that I’m fully on board with the “self-loving approach to diet and exercise” just yet, or that I actually see my body as anything ut a disappointing failure to look or perform the way I want it to, but I do believe that you actually did succeed in changing your attitude, and that makes it possible for me to believe that I could, too.