I’m not talking about the postings, I’m talking about the discussions and debates that get underway in the comments section of posts.
Don’t think there are protectionists on FR? There are, plenty of them, and their rhetoric is no different than the protectionist rhetoric coming from labor unions, full of long-debunked economic fallacies about “stealing jobs” and so forth. I have personally been called a “traitor” and a “socialist” for advocating free unfettered trade between nations, which shows you how ignorant some people are of what socialism is. Protectionism and socialism are ideological cousins, they just have different methods and different motives—they produce similar results.
As for borderline racists, they’re here too. As for real racists, they’re here too but usually their rhetoric gets them censored or banned.
And there’s plenty of jingoistic, xenophobic, “America-is-God’s-country-everywhere-else-is-satan-worshipping-commie-terrorists” on here too. First and foremost I’m a Christian, and that kind of talk is highly offensive. I don’t think America is good or evil, it is just a country, a legal and social construct. People are good or evil.
The populists are what I call “Wal-Mart Republicans.” They are in favor of all sorts of big government programs and government interventions into peoples’ lives—so long as they are the ones guiding the power. These are the people in favor of using tax-payer money to fund their kids’ sports teams, debate teams, extracurricular activities and all expenses involved with it. They are in favor of using tax-payer money to fund whatever private enterprise they are in favor of (sports stadiums, shopping centers, etc.). Instead of making the mistake that thinking war doesn’t solve anything, they’ve gone the opposite way and think war solves everything.
Statism is the opposite of liberty. Regardless of what form it comes in—fascism, socialism, communism, Keynesianism, protectionism, etc., it produces similar results.
It wouldn't be honest to say that there weren't examples of each of those viewpoints here on FR. But that's what comes of having an open forum with (relatively) free speech.
It's a cliche I suppose but the vast majority of FReepers are good solid (occasionally silly) people who care a lot about this country and each other, I think, even though they argue about stuff as though this were a war zone. Well, maybe it is.
It's pretty clear you have to be a bit rough-and-tumble to survive on Free Republic but that is also its strength. It also gets to be too much if you are serious about a certain point of view and the crowd just either doesn't agree or isn't taking it as seriously as you are at the moment.
Your instincts seem pretty good. Take a break. Hopefully you'll come back soon and rejoin the fray.