You've touched on a need I've often felt as well. Frankly, I enjoy debating politics and would enjoy doing it here on HN if it weren't for the fact that I've mostly internalized a !politics filter, which there seems have fairly strong consensus.
Still, a forum for political debate that's both open and inhabited mostly by the reasonable and well-informed... I don't know if it's possible, but I'd like to see it.
*Edit: as for the why, I'd argue that most non-tech editorials shouldn't be here, period. Krugman's in particular -- even though I often agree with him -- because he's partisan and something of a lightning rod for the right.
> Still, a forum for political debate that's both open and inhabited mostly by the reasonable and well-informed... I don't know if it's possible, but I'd like to see it.
Paul Graham wrote a very well though out article on why debating politics, even with the best intentions, is extraordinarily difficult.
More generally, you can have a fruitful discussion about a topic only if it doesn't engage the identities of any of the participants. What makes politics and religion such minefields is that they engage so many people's identities.
I want to see this kind of article on HN because it's hard to find a high-level discussion of these issues elsewhere.