Sad, Yet IMHO, Wrong Move Charlotte

I see that Charlotte Gore, shortlistee for this year's Lib Dem Blogger of the Year, has decided to call it a day, as a Lib Dem Blogger at least, she states her reasons here

I think it is sad that she no longer considers herself able to call herself a Lib Dem blogger, though I notice that her membership of the party when it is due for renewal is still a matter of debate. I'm going to rise as probably one of her least likely champions for her to stay. There have been times when I have disagreed with the direction the party has taken, sometimes from the conference platform, sometimes in smaller groups and sometimes in my blog. One thing that I do appreciate is the diversity of opinion of our party which groups together around certain key, somewhat metaphysical aims. Freedom and Liberty can equally mean two entirely different things depending on where you see freedom and Liberty being need to be applied. That is why our party can have a debate and come out of it pretty much how the average person would appreciate it at the end of the day.

Charlotte states the mansion tax as one of the straws that has broken her particular camels back. However, when you look at what was originally proposed surely she would see the revamping as a success for her side of that particular ideological tug-of-war over what might broadly be described as my end of the rope. Of course the battle is not yet won by either side as this idea has yet to face the cauldron that is the conference floor.

Much as in my dreams I'd initially like all of the party to agree with my stance on everything, I know that before I'd wake up that would soon turn into a nightmare. I need the Charlottes of this world and this party to straighten me out at times and I guess that there may even be times, even if she doesn't admit it, that sometimes she needs the Stephens of the same groups to do the same for her. Then we'll haggle, lodge amendments, state our cases, debate and vote through what is best all round, I hope (though sometimes I do wonder at the time).

I don't have a Lib Dem section to my blogroll so I won't have difficulty in placing Charlotte. However, I do hope we can have debates for a long time to come both within conference as well as at the pubs on the edge.