If you want to discuss a topic without reference to partisan national politics, I'd recommend you do so and see what happens. I expect that for the most part, if the topic is one of genuine interest, you'll get a discussion about it.
That said, it's worth paying attention to what makes certain topics seem interesting in the first place.
I discuss same-sex marriage on this site not-infrequently, for example. That's because I happen to be in one, and we often discuss relationship dynamics. I don't generally get downvoted for it.
OTOH, if I were to start talking about legalizing same-sex marriage in America in the abstract, the most plausible explanation for why I was talking about this would be because it has become a partisan political question in an election year. If I wanted to talk about it for some other reason, I would make a distinct effort to frame it so that my real reasons were immediately clear.
I would also look skeptically at my own belief that those really were my real reasons.
Hello fellow LWs,
As I have read repeatedly on LW (http://lesswrong.com/lw/gw/politics_is_the_mindkiller/) you don't like discussing politics because it produces biased thinking/arguing which I agree is true for the general populace. What I find curious is that you don't seem to even try it here where people would be very likely to keep their identities small (www.paulgraham.com/identity.html). It should be the perfect (or close enough) environment to talk politics because you can have reasonable discussions here.
I do understand that you don't like to bring politics into discussions about rationality, but I don't understand why there shouldn't be dedicated political threads here. (Maybe you could flag them?)
all the best
Viper