Hello Lizards, a hatchling here. I’m from South Africa. Although I could probably best be described as centre-left, I try to read a variety of opinions from across the political spectrum.

I started following American politics more closely about a year ago and was surprised at the level of vitriol and sheer craziness that I found on some websites, but what surprised me the most was seeing Republican politicians and influential people like Beck and Limbaugh cynically repeating the crazy in order to drum up fear and opposition to everything, regardless of merit. There are enough real problems in the US to solve, and enough missteps made by the Obama administration and the Democrats to attack without talking about death panels or re-education camps.

I’m not sure how I came across LGF, but it was like a breath of fresh air in the claustrophobic atmosphere of paranoia and conspiracy theories. I’ve been reading LGF for a couple of months now and have enjoyed the intelligent and open-minded discussions here.