Comment by tptacek

The right way to think about the kinds of discussions you want to have is that they come at a cost. As you note in your own title: they're flamewar-inducing. HN is open-access and pseudonymous; there's no way to bar participation in threads to only those people who will follow the site guidelines. So, to host them, HN has to expend energy, both from the community and from moderators.

It's for that reason that hot-button political topics generally have to earn their place, by being more-than-usually interesting not just to people who love to debate politics (hey, it me!) but also to people who are on HN to gratify their curiosity more generally. Most hot-button topics can't pay their way this way, and get flagged off the site.