I am Not a Libertarian

Yesterday I tweeted. And as communication in 140 characters goes, it was in some cases misunderstood – as a whine, rather than an observation – and in other cases corrected, because reality is nine tenths perception, is it not?

The latter of those two, in reference to the Valerie Jarrett health care reform meeting, I will address at another time – as I’ve yet to find four of the attendees political stances/circumstances to reference online. The former, on the other hand, we can go at now.

I am not whining, it is simply an observation made during my experience in the only decidedly political panel at BlogHer. Prior to the 09 conference I contacted the BlogHer team in regards to the “What Does it Mean to be Pro-Woman in a Post-Palin World?” panel. I do not take issue with not being on the panel personally, I pale in comparison to the wonderful women they had speaking and that is fine with me. What I take issue with is the stark contrast in the impression I received from the team in regards to that inquiry (which was to have independent women represented on the panel) and the actual experience at the panel itself when the conference came around.

What I was told when I contacted the BlogHer team was that they already had a Libertarian blogger on the panel and would not be needing an independent. Now, that probably should have been a red-flag, yes. In hindsight, I can see that. But there are Libertarians who do share many, many of the beliefs held by independents like myself (whose political stances obviously vary in and of themselves) so I took it at face value. And in a flurry of spring and summer activity I never did look to see exactly who that Libertarian was.

For the record it was Emily Zanotti of American Princess, who by the way I have grown to adore since seeing her speak. This is nothing against Emily or her politics. But, as it turns out, Emily is a conservative Libertarian who shares about as many opinions with me as my mother-in-law, which is to say, not many. Not many at all.

So, once again, independent women – thousands of them who do share very similar political stances with me – were not represented. And yes, I take a little bit of onus for that. I can accept that I should have investigated further, I should have pressed for BlogHer to consider an independent addition for the panel. I should have taken the microphone at the session the many times I intended to rather than always being discouraged by the long line of women already there, too reluctant to get in line and then have to bring the conversation back around for what I had to say once it was my turn.

I can admit to the mistakes I made in every one of those instances. Mistakes that I intend to learn from. What I cannot take responsibility for however, is the misconception that leads to misrepresentation like this over and over and over again.

The panel was decidedly liberal on this issue and I’m convinced that Ms. Zanotti was a token conservative to the conversation that just so happened to also conveniently fulfill the obligation to represent Libertarians and independents. But there the problem lies, because I am not a Libertarian. I am most definitely not a conservative Libertarian. And while Ms. Zanotti went above and beyond the call of duty at the panel, contributing much more than token conservatism she didn’t represent a very large niche of women in politics. She didn’t represent independents like me. And that’s disappointing.

It’s not a disappoint to be placed on her shoulders, she represented her party true to her values and that’s all anyone can do. It’s a disappointment in what seems to be a complete and utter lack of vetting on the part of BlogHer, who yes, I understand have their hands full.

What will it take to make people understand that I am not a Libertarian? I am an independent and I am not alone. There are hundreds, thousands of us. And we deserve representation.

Yes, we’re the wild card. We don’t abide by party lines and sometimes that means you don’t know what position you’re going to get on a given issue. But we have a voice. We are powerful. And because we see things from both sides of the fence and every place in between, we have a unique perspective that has the potential to moderate partisan disputes.

I don’t know what exactly it will take for recognition of our individuality in politics. I don’t know what it will take to be accepted as an entity independent of Libertarians. I don’t know, but I intend to find out.

I’ve struggled in the past with where to write about politics and as a result I’ve been irresponsible in using my voice for this cause. That changes now.

In a somewhat surreal way the discouragement I felt at the behavior of the mommyblogging community was an incredible inspiration to take the plunge I’d been tipping at the edge of for more than a year; to ditch the mom blog and settle in a less focused blog home. A place where I can write more on me and not feel like I’m getting off topic, failing to compartmentalize. A place where I can reiterate that I am not a Libertarian. I am an independent. And I have a voice I plan to use.

Tagged as: blogher, blogher 09, blogher09, Cultivate: Writing, identity, independent, libertarian, life, mom blog, mommy bloggers, mommy blogging, Palin, Politics