I have. I liken it to spreading the gospel in a way. The leftists hate it when christians try to convert them, they say we want to rob them of their minds and such, etc. Yet they go to great lengths to try to convert others to their way of thinking.
If you delete their posts for example, they cry about debate and dissent, but if you try to get them to convert to a faith (anyone will do for discussion) they get all bent and tell you that it is their personal choice, that you are stupid and brainless, etc and so on.
Yet the whole time these 'hecklers' are trying to convert you to their brand of belief. So if I go onto a buddhist discussion site and start trying to convert them or pointing out things I see as wrong in the buddhist faith, chances are people will get upset, disrupted, and the post will be deleted.
Now contrast that to if I ask a question I am not clear on or question some of the ideals without trying to convert them to my way of thinking (ie simply trying to get they themselves to be introspective) - that is much different then trying to push my agenda and beliefs through on their own board.
I discuss a broad range of things here. I don't trust the government whether it is Bush or anyone else, it is simply too large an entity for any one person to control - like a beast it grows even after the head is cut off (ie when the president or congress changes).
If you're not a conservative, then there are libertarian boards, democrat boards, etc where you can discuss things with like minded individuals and try to spend time focusing on issues you all agree are worth examining in a light the color of your choosing (btw by 'you' I am being general, not meaning this directly at you, just a quirk of my writing style).
I like Bush, but he can do better - so I would like to limit my discussions in a general way on that topic to that versus 'he is not doing what I want, he sucks has to go' - that is what the liberals like to do.
Interesting to note too: I saw an admin, or owner, of DU mention in a thread something about the next election. Said after a dem candidate was chosen they would not tolerate bashing them, they needed to work together to defeat bush as anyone was better than he was. - I would call that good political sense, you know not all the people who support someone will like everything they do, so you take the good with the bad.
I take the good with the bad on Bush. He is only one man and can only do so much, I would rather support him and any of his failings then some candidate who has no chance.
Overall, big government is evil, will continue to grow, no one will stop it, and the end of the world is coming regardless :)
Bush is far from ideal. I get angry with him quite often. But when I think back over the Carter and Bush presidencies, the thought of another Dem president absolutely terrifies me. At least Republican presidents don't set out to destroy America.
First, they'd shit their bloomers. They would be in awe of the machines ... but far moreso of the people. Hispanics, Blacks, Chinese, Indian, Albino and their whiter cousins the Irish. 270 million strong. That's just in line for Conan tickets.
They'd be 2 minutes on the Street and they would demand a caucus and 225 year debriefing. They'd be spellbound on historical events, especially the Godzilla-Mothra battle. The Civil War would devestate them.
We survived that. We beat a military imperial power in WWI. We snuffed out three of the most powerful and motivated fascist regimes in World History in WWII. We defeated the Worldwide threat of Communist Despotism ... that murdered 50-70 million innocents.
The boys would idolize us. They'd be blown away that we still have three branches, two Legislative bodies with disparate rules and tenure, a Supreme Court of nine, an electoral college and a service oriented Elanor Mondale.
They made the frigging system feature and upgrade rich. After learning of our Civil War, our 20th Century Wars, the Marshall Plan, our current challenge .... those boys would be crying. They weren't worthy in their minds, but they dodged numerous bullets before. Usually from a sauced Franklin. Everyone would leave with a shit eating grin.
America works. The Constitution is ready, willing and able to rock and roll all night.