Should Yahoo! Answers continue providing the Politics section?

Yes--at least until (if ever) Yahoo gets arud to keeping their promise to create a current events forum to replace the old discussion boards they took down 2 years ago.

This is a "polis" -- a place whre citizens can gather and speak. Sometimes it isn't nice, or polite. There's no arbiter or guantaor of "truth."

But look at history. The first such arena of free speech and citizen discussion was the ancient Greek "polis" (where the term originated; it's the root o the word politics). was not nice either. It was closer to eing a free-for-all. In America the political culture o four nation was not laid down by solemn men in meeting halls--it was argued out in the taverns of each town by ordinary Americans. The shape of our political culture came from that--not from refined intellectual discussions.

This--Y/A and a thousand other forums-- is real democracy, without the nice, but distorted, prettying up that historians and teachers like to present it with. It's raw, smetimes ugly--but if you want freedom--this--in a public arena without pretense or moderation--is where freedom starts. It's not a place for the soft, orthe thin-skinned. Y/A isn't important in and of itself--but it's part of something much greater that is a Godsend to our country--a place for citizens to speak and be heard.

But it's no place for sissies. Real Democracy never is.

Political questions do not have anything to do with travel. The act of traveling for the vast majority of people is not a political activity. And political questions here and elsewhere are not linked to the intention of traveling to the said country and the impact it may or may not have on traveling there. Thus, your attempt to link political questions with the actual topic in a lame attempt to justify it is silly to say the least. On the other hand, I personally don't mind USING this forum outside its intended purpose for no other reason than the fact that Yahoo Answers doesn't provide an actual forum for Israel related political discussion. In fact, if you cited that as a reason instead of your silly rational, you might have ended up with some rare agreement here. Oh well. Another reason why not to take you seriously.

Why not? Is not Politics also part of our life? Is politics always dirty?Should we not have a platform to raise vital questions relating to politics and deprivation of the general public and for the World which is suffering from the Poly Trics of so called big guns? I think, instead of avoiding politics at Yahoo Answer,we should go for a healthy discussions,through this section,so that it may be eye-opener for others and at the same time enlightening.

I think it is a matter of free speech, I think that the only thing to do is "Thumbs Down" people who are fanatics. But the idea is good and there are good questions and answers. Even some of the more radical questions can be used to express (what I think at least) is a more rational answer.

But yes, the inmates do seem to have taken over the asylum sometimes!

I assure you that you can get valuable information here in YA politics, I often find this the quickest most effective way to get the latest news, people are very good about linking to news stories that would otherwise be overlooked by most of us. I often hear things on the news the following day that I have learned here prior. I do admit you have to filter through a lot of BS to get to it sometime but that's where you can have some fun and let loose.

I gotta admit, it's getting pretty bad in this category. I also believe in free speech,but much on here are bitter rants and out right lies, from both sides, too bad. I think they should continue to provide this category,most of us can sift through the garbage.

You raise an excellent point. It is starting to resemble talk radio where people can just create fear and hate based on ones opinion and not based on any facts, and all protected under the freedom of speech.

That admirable, but if you were to cut the Y!A Politics Section, then everyone here will just move to the Elections section and flood that with the crap that gets into this section.

No, probably not. There are far better forums out there to get information . This forum is full of paid liberal operatives and young people who have the literacy and logic skills of a peanut. They think liberal propaganda websites are legitimate sources of fact.

They really need to study American History, the Constitution, and political systems around the world to see what made American great and why America is dangerously close to falling. But the path of least resistance is to troll websites and spout out smart-**** remarks that make them feel good about their sorry lives.

Forums like this are somewhat pathetic and really show the dumbing down of America.

if you have a cursory look at the questions and answers in religion and spirituality section, you would not have posted this question. here in this section, only ideological war between progressive people and conservative and reactionary is going on. but i have never come across any person personally abusing others who have expressed opinions diametrically opposite to them.