Hi, Larry! I understand your concerns, but most publications just don't have the time and/or resources to hire moderators to monitor the comments 24/7. A few very large sites have full-time staffs dedicated to this, but they spend over $1 million per year on moderation, yet still must limit the number of comments they publish due to staffing constraints. 

By rating other comments, commenters take an active role in shaping the community they want to see. Our algorithms on the backend track suspicious activity and try to prevent biased votes, automatically warning users and restricting accounts as needed. 

You contend that someone's racist or threatening comments are "theirs" and therefore worthy of publishing, but our stance can be summarized in the old adage, "my right to extend my fist ends where your face begins." 

We still see plenty of angry, spirited debate, fortunately! But it's more focused on attacking ideas, instead of people.