I'm FAT & I VOTE!

The presidential candidates of both parties seem to pick and choose which voting blocks they're going to pander to, or at least try not to offend, and tailor their messages accordingly. Each of these groups of voters is treated as a monolith, made up of identically-thinking and voting citizens.

There's the Hispanic vote, the African-American vote, the Conservative vote, the Hollywood vote, the Jewish vote, the female vote -- on and on. Some of these voting blocks, depending on how unified they are, carry far more impact than would be expected from the number of their members.

With over the half the U.S. population being labeled "overweight" or "obese" (or worse), why is there no FAT VOTE?

• Is it because we are not monolithic at all in our beliefs,  or our needs?
• We may not share many beliefs, but we all need to be treated with respect, compassion, dignity, and fairness; we all need to be recognized as human beings with feeling, dreams, pride, and a damn good reason for being here!
  
• Is it because we have no united voice?
• There are at least two organizations that purport to speak for fat folks: NAAFA and ASDAH. Are they dialoging with the candidates, or educating them, or even - gasp!- endorsing any of them?
  
• Is it because the fat-haters have us so ashamed of who we are, we are afraid to speak up?
• 2008 is my year to "come out of hiding" -- won't you join me?

Why are the politicians so blithely unaware of how many of us -- fat people who will no longer tolerate being put down just for being fat -- there are? How have we failed (so far) to raise their consciousness? And what can we do about it NOW?

AmpleHugs,
-Anne

Comments

[BamBam]

Rock the fat vote!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zIAkQWXfxmQ

[Rachel]

There are at least two organizations that purport to speak for fat folks: NAAFA and ASDAH. Are they dialoging with the candidates, or educating them, or even - gasp!- endorsing any of them?

I'm a dues-paying member of ASDAH, but am not involved much more beyond this. I am not a member of NAAFA. I am involved, however, with the startup of a new organization called COFRA (Coalition of Fat Rights Activists). In deciding how to best organize,we discovered that non-profit orgs cannot support political candidates. According to a labor lawyer and a seasoned non-profit activist on our committee, if you want to support a candidate or endorse someone, you have to register as a political action committee. I think both NAAFA and ASDAH are registered as non-profits, which would explain why they haven't been more politically involved.

[Proud FA]

The fat acceptance movement is a huge failure while more and more Americans are opting to be fat. NAAFA does not speak for most Americans. Fat Americans are woefully under represented yet we are the majority.

Because IMO and in the opinion of my blog partner NAAFA, ISAA and ASHAH has been such a dismal failure we have started what folks are calling the "The New Fat Accpetance" We discuss fat issues on our WWW.BiggerFatterBlog.blogspot.com

We discuss the failures of the FA movement and we offer solutions and a new comprehensive philosophy that is inclusive.