Interesting take. It's only fun when you're getting more agreement, rather than debate? I kind of feel the opposite. And I'm not sure I follow this "shouting down" narrative. We're posting on an internet message board. Take as much time as you need to complete your thoughts.
--Guy Who Writes Too-Long Posts
Edited to add: It's interesting how other posters' perceptions of you can change, based on outside events. I was considered a pretty "moderator" poster for years on the old boards -- though always liberal, of course -- mainly, I think, because during the GWB administration I refused to buy into all the garbage the hard left was trying to throw at the President. Make no mistake, I think GWB was a disastrously awful Executive, but I never went in for all the crazy conspiracies, the personal demonizing of the man, or for viewing his (IMO) total incompetence as some type of secret, nefarious, hidden super-competence to enact dastardly plots. (I hope that last part makes sense). When Obama was elected, I was very pleased, no question. And I think he's been a terrific president in troubling times. But the amount of similar garbage thrown at him, since his first day in office, has been unmatched by any Executive in history (IMO). And, of course, most of these silly charges and petty attacks end up circulating and getting dissected on political message boards like ours (see, e.g., Benghazi). So when I adopted similar positions on the Obama nonsense as I did on GWB -- that our President isn't secretly an evil, all-powerful and super-devious warlord bent on destroying our country and carving out power for himself, for his own sake -- to a certain segment of the board I'd suddenly lost objectivity, and become "in the tank" for Obama and (ugh) the Democratic Party. All because I wasn't buying the same garbage that I didn't buy for GWB (only there were more servings of it to discuss).
Maybe I'm not seeing myself perfectly accurately. Who does? But to me, my thoughts aren't any different. Everything I post is from a "liberal" stance, of course. Being overly general, that's what I believe. But there's a lot to be said about where the goalposts have moved in the last five years, based on Obama, the Tea Party, and the polarization of the political world.
Just my two cents.