I feel affirmed in my okayness!

A reader writes:

In a recent post about the state of our political system, you wrote “And when I vote third party, I shall, yet again, be told that I’m being “unrealistic” or (even better) un-American.” About 2 years ago I wrote to you regarding my confusion on your position. I didn’t understand how you could defend voting for a candidate that had no hope of winning, when (to my mind), the clearest way to oppose the moral evil that was electing Obama was to vote for McCain. Let’s just say that the last year has opened my eyes a little. Make no mistake, I had no illusions about Obama. He’s pretty much what I expected from a liberal Chicago politician. What I didn’t see coming was what “Just Tell Me What I’m Supposed To Say” McCain turned into post-election (though the writing was on the wall the whole time). As a puppet of the Republican party, it’s become much easier to see what the party really stands for. His personal convictions may have been against torture and inhuman immigration practices and his personal approach to politics may have been moderate, but as a mouthpiece of the RNC it’s clear that the party he represents is anything but. Barring a radical change, I believe I will be voting 3rd party next election. Just wanted to let you know that your writing is doing some good.

Keep up the good work!

For what it’s worth, I am coming more and more to agree with Tom Kreitzberg: “The act of voting is the stone in the stone soup of political responsibility for Catholic citizens of democratic countries.”