First, I'm very glad that you made this a community blog and not an individual's blog. Individual blogs require a massive amount of effort to be worthwhile, and us laymen (non-professional pundits) need someplace where we can spout our views.

...which is why I come back. When I make a post or comment here, I know that I'll get some thoughtful responses. Sometimes I post because I read something shocking and I say "I've just gotta tell someone who would understand why this is shocking".

As for user interface, I've recently wanted to have some way of tracking responses to my comments. I like how DKos does it (each person has a comment page, where each comment has a "replies" counter), but I've think it also helps when websites allow people to follow particular discussions with RSS or email updates (like Kevin Carson's blog at Google). 

I'll look into what I can do.

I've not just given up on the GOP, I find their warmongering and lawless authoritarianism intolerable.

Yet, many Democrats/liberals/leftists find me, as a libertarian, highly suspect. This site assists me in feeling that I can veer Dem and my beliefs are not subjected to all manner of accusation, such as that I hate the poor and am a "corporatist." (I am so, so NOT a corporatist.) Simply, I like reading the reasonably like-minded in a sea of blogospheric vitriol.