[QUOTE=Really Not All That Bright]
I beg to differ. I’ve been here for five years!
[/QUOTE]
Haha! RNATB: you and I, we try to pretend to be more informed and mature than we really are, in order to survive.
Who knows, maybe sometime the pretense will become reality?
I’m wary of throwing names out, since I’d hate to miss someone that I respect. A lot of them are posting in this thread.
But I’ve gotta say that even the less ‘honest’ liberals and conservatives around here are miles ahead of the typical crowd at most of the big partisan sites. If you don’t believe me, go read Daily Kos’s comment thread, or Free Republic’s message boards. Ye gods, but there are a lot of morons posting at both places. And they’re not even the worst - go read the comment threads on any of the mainstream newspaper sites that have them. When the general public starts weighing in on political issues, the sheer level of ignorance and stupidity is off the scale. Even the worst debaters in this place are no worse than the average elsewhere, and I’d say 80% of the people who contribute to Great Debates would be in the top 10% anywhere else.
As far as being labeled a conservative, well, I’m not really. Sometimes I look like one around here because I wind up in the default oppositional position to the majority of people here, but if I were to hang out on Free Republic (I don’t), they’d probably think I was a Godless Commie.
For example, this was John Mace’s position list:
I supported the Iraq war, and I support Israel more than he does, but other than that we’re perfectly aligned. I could add in some other issues as well where I’m more aligned with the left:
Pro immigration
Against most ‘anti-terror’ laws that restrict civil liberties
Opposed to ‘law and order’ rules like mandatory sentencing, three-strikes laws, etc.
I accept that the weight of scientific evidence supports the theory that humans are affecting global warming (but don’t accept the left’s remedies as being practical)
Opposed to most of Bush’s policies (steel tariffs, farm subsidies, ‘No Child Left Behind’, ethanol subsidies, creation of the Department of Homeland Security, conduct of the Iraq war, FISA, his expansion of executive power, the increase in executive secretiveness, senior prescription drug benefit, and more)
However, I’m far from a liberal, because I disagree with them on some very big issues that have a huge impact on our lives. I disagree with the entire liberal philosophy of government, which is that it is a tool that should be used to shape society, restribute wealth, direct our research, and in general be the focal point of our social organization. That’s why I’ll never be a liberal.
I misunderstood the topic when I opened the thread, and I was all prepared to list Pat Buchanan as the conservative I think is most honest. But if you mean among Dopers – hell, I dunno.
I’ve always found the vast majority of the conservative posters here to be honest, but in addition I’d say that John Carter of Mars, Jackmanii, Captain Amazing & Sam Stone are reasonable as well.
Wow, two pages, and not a single mean word exchanged. Thank you all!
Not to give Sam Stone too large of an ego. For a Canadian I somehow agree with almost everything he says. 
I almost never post in GD because Sam has already covered my opinion and said it better than I could anyway.
While I disagree with a lot of Bricker’s standpoints, he does make his case for them very, very well. Sam Stone also seems like a conservative with precisely zero problems looking himself in the mirror, or anyone in the eyes.
On the Liberal side of the court, ** Mhendo and Phlpshr come quickly to mind. Liberal as well.
May I just add that loyalty to a political party–over, say, loyalty to a well-conceived set of ethical ideals of governance–never strikes me as “honest.”
For the most part, this board has the good kind of political loyalty, although one does see the bad kind on both sides.
I don’t know where exactly I fall on the scale economically but I’ve always enjoyed my debates with Sam Stone and xtisme.