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My question: How are you going to get well rounded debate? I can see modern liberals and libertarians in good numbers in the hacker community, but are there con

My question: How are you going to get well rounded debate? I can see modern liberals and libertarians in good numbers in the hacker community, but are there conservatives? Specifically, are there New Right conservatives in the Tea Party vein? These are the people who have swept the House and won office around the country and are the loudest voice on the Right. The Republican candidate for office strongly supports most of their platform, making their platform arguably the most legitimate conservative view currently. And I don't understand how you're going to get any of those voices, at all.

alaithea 14y ago
With a name like "Political Screaming Match," do you think he's after rounded, reasoned debate? This sounds like it's mostly for some laughs. I think it's a fun idea.
DanielStraight 14y ago
I think there are probably more conservatives around than you realize. Assuming the number from my random searching (http://www.quora.com/Hacker-News/How-many-users-does-Hacker-News-have http://www.quora.com/Hacker-News/How-many-users-does-Hacker-...) is even the correct order of magnitude, then even if only 1% of HN is conservatives, that's over 1000 people. I think in general people tend to overestimate homogeneity (but probably fewer people than I think).
planetguy 14y ago
The Tea Party is a libertarian movement. Or at least, it started out as one. I'm a pragmatic libertarian, which I suppose makes me a conservative.
- Zak 14y ago
  The tea party started out as a libertarian movement. It is no longer. In particular, support for the following positions is typical[0] of tea party politicians: Drug prohibition, interventionist foreign policy, restrictions on pornography, constitutional amendment banning same-sex marriage, banning homosexuals in the military, increased domestic surveillance. All of these positions are in direct conflict with libertarianism and seem typical of American conservatives prior to the formation of the tea party movement. [0] These seem to me to be typical, though I didn't conduct a survey. To help compile the list, I used http://www.ontheissues.org/senate/Marco_Rubio.htm http://www.ontheissues.org/senate/Marco_Rubio.htm
nsxwolf 14y ago
I think they exist, but most of them know how unwelcome they are and they keep their mouths shut. Edit: That came off not sounding how I meant it to. I really mean they keep quiet on various political issues because they know they're underrepresented and will get torn to pieces. I don't think it's actually a hostile, unwelcoming environment otherwise.
- nothacker 14y ago
  I'm a conservative and have spent a good amount of time here and have been vocal periodically. I know how unwelcome my views are but that doesn't stop me usually, although I don't speak up nearly as much as I did for a while. And it's not just conservative views. Basically if your views don't match with the majority of urban, liberal, Apple-evangelizing, Silicon Valley, entrepreneur/MBA/developer elites, then you will be put in your place. It's too bad really, because so many here that don't share those opinions stay quiet. It is quite a bubble. But back to the site at hand, I think it is a neat idea, but I don't have time to text with people I don't know about politics, because I work, have a family, and am old enough not to waste much time on politics. I wasted many hours of my life trying to convince others about the perils of fiscal liberalism, and the best I was ever able to do is to point people to the Peter G. Peterson foundation: http://www.pgpf.org/Issues.aspx http://www.pgpf.org/Issues.aspx

alaithea 14y ago

With a name like "Political Screaming Match," do you think he's after rounded, reasoned debate? This sounds like it's mostly for some laughs. I think it's a fun idea.

DanielStraight 14y ago

I think there are probably more conservatives around than you realize. Assuming the number from my random searching (http://www.quora.com/Hacker-News/How-many-users-does-Hacker-News-have http://www.quora.com/Hacker-News/How-many-users-does-Hacker-...) is even the correct order of magnitude, then even if only 1% of HN is conservatives, that's over 1000 people. I think in general people tend to overestimate homogeneity (but probably fewer people than I think).

planetguy 14y ago

The Tea Party is a libertarian movement. Or at least, it started out as one. I'm a pragmatic libertarian, which I suppose makes me a conservative.

Zak 14y ago
The tea party started out as a libertarian movement. It is no longer. In particular, support for the following positions is typical[0] of tea party politicians: Drug prohibition, interventionist foreign policy, restrictions on pornography, constitutional amendment banning same-sex marriage, banning homosexuals in the military, increased domestic surveillance. All of these positions are in direct conflict with libertarianism and seem typical of American conservatives prior to the formation of the tea party movement. [0] These seem to me to be typical, though I didn't conduct a survey. To help compile the list, I used http://www.ontheissues.org/senate/Marco_Rubio.htm http://www.ontheissues.org/senate/Marco_Rubio.htm

nsxwolf 14y ago

I think they exist, but most of them know how unwelcome they are and they keep their mouths shut. Edit: That came off not sounding how I meant it to. I really mean they keep quiet on various political issues because they know they're underrepresented and will get torn to pieces. I don't think it's actually a hostile, unwelcoming environment otherwise.

nothacker 14y ago
I'm a conservative and have spent a good amount of time here and have been vocal periodically. I know how unwelcome my views are but that doesn't stop me usually, although I don't speak up nearly as much as I did for a while. And it's not just conservative views. Basically if your views don't match with the majority of urban, liberal, Apple-evangelizing, Silicon Valley, entrepreneur/MBA/developer elites, then you will be put in your place. It's too bad really, because so many here that don't share those opinions stay quiet. It is quite a bubble. But back to the site at hand, I think it is a neat idea, but I don't have time to text with people I don't know about politics, because I work, have a family, and am old enough not to waste much time on politics. I wasted many hours of my life trying to convince others about the perils of fiscal liberalism, and the best I was ever able to do is to point people to the Peter G. Peterson foundation: http://www.pgpf.org/Issues.aspx http://www.pgpf.org/Issues.aspx