

Show HN: Weekend project, Political Screaming Match - cykod
http://politicalscreamingmatch.com/

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betterth
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.

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nsxwolf
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
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>

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tomkin
What I would love to see is a system that validates claims made by those
involved in townhall meetings and TV debates.

Nothing would please me more than to see a politician make a claim of coal
only outputting X carbon, and a sidebar slide over that pulls in Wolfram|Alpha
or some other empirical data with a giant FALSE. This way, they can't use
showmanship to sway opinion.

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zipdog
You mean like if <http://www.factcheck.org/about/> was instant?

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peeters
From a user experience, it _really_ bugs me that I can't preview the topics. I
don't want to give you my phone # until I see what "debates" are available to
discuss.

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mcantor
Agreed. Steps #1 and #2 should be reversed.

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morsch
The Chat Roulette of political debates?

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duqee
Hopefully with less male nudity.

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feriksen
Sooooo, no Anthony Weiner then?

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tocomment
Could you use this same technology to create an issue page e.g., SOPA and
connect voters to their politicians?

Maybe people could get points from calling their politician through the site
to vote on future issues?

What I've described is an idea I've been kicking around for a while.

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duiker101
I know, Twilio, disclaimer and everything looks ok... but still i do not feel
entirely safe to give my phone number... Not that i do not trust you...
but...i don't know...it feels strange, even if i use more email and mine is
everywhere i am not totally ok with giving my phone around.

~~~
betterth
Use a Google Voice number or something similar?

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vinhboy
It's always weird to see someone execute on an idea I've had myself. My idea
was through chat and email though. Talking on the phone is way too personal.
But good luck.

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stfu
I was expecting more some shouting match on who can scream his candidate's
name the longest/loudest. Didn't expect that level of sophistication.

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iM8t
This is crazy, but yet amazing. I'm totally gona subscribe to the RSS feed. :)

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kaonashi
I can't wait until your next app "Striking my hand repeatedly with a hammer".

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brendanobrien
+1 Twilio!

