I would take your point about there not being many political current events a step further. The broad ideas discussed here are some of the most important issues

I would take your point about there not being many political current events a step further. The broad ideas discussed here are some of the most important issues of our day. I might be overstating things a bit, but I think it's safe to say that the HN audience is largely composed of the people who work to propel society forward through their ventures. The readership here are highly educated and are largely "in the trenches" every day solving problems and building the things society needs. These professional problem solvers and hackers are the very individuals I want to be engaging in healthy debate about the virtues of various policies and their impact on business, innovation, and society as a whole. The problem is when the policy debate degenerates into the standard political name calling and senseless bickering that does nothing to advance intelligent ideas. If any community can keep that to a minimum, it's this one.