[csandreasen]

I've had the exact opposite experience (i.e. getting downvotes for saying something in defense of the government). I think political threads tend to lean in one direction pretty quickly. I usually check HN after getting home from work, at which point most threads have already been going on for several hours. At that point, if a thread doesn't already have discussion from multiple sides by then, I don't bother commenting. I feel like at that point you're only going to get downvotes for disagreeing.