My vote is my own....

There are a lot of benefits to working as a freelancer. You can wear bike shorts or jammie pants all day. You never have to deal with office politics unless it's negotiating with your cat over who gets to sit in the big comfy desk chair. You don't have to listen to anyone else's choice of a radio station. You can sneak out to a movie whenever you want because as long as you get your work done it doesn't matter when you do the work.
I love being a freelancer.
And now it turns out there's another great benefit of being a freelancer. No one thinks they have the right to tell me how to vote.  (Half my clients are in Europe or Australia, and they especially couldn't care less how I vote, although they do have opinions about who should be the next President.) 
I cannot imagine getting an email like this one Mike White sent out to his employees at Rite-Hite suggesting they consider the "personal consequences" of voting for Barack Obama.
People who work for Rite-Hite can't just thumb their nose at their boss.  And of course, they can vote their consciences, because how would White know how they voted? But the kind of not-so-subtle intimidation this email carried is outrageous.
I am grateful that my livelihood does not depend on my political convictions or on how I vote.
This election cycle has brought out some of the most extreme rhetoric and outrageous behavior I can remember.  And it's not just the ridiculous and demeaning remarks about rape and abortion. It's the demands for birth certificates and tax returns and passport applications.
The most important election of my lifetime will be over in less than two weeks.
I've already voted.
And nobody told me what choices to make.
The choice was clear.