It's not that actively moderated. dang uses a pretty light hand here.

That's not true at all. Try posting an overtly political article and it will be blocked.

But maybe i'm wrong? I posted this[1], let's see what happens.

[1] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=39622270

Edit: as expected, it was flagged, which I am not complaining about. I don't want divisive political stories on HN.

My point is that when the occasional political story makes it through to the front page, it almost always has a specific political bent.

Overtly political articles are off-topic, as the site guidelines clearly say.

Also, "flagged" is users, not moderators. Maybe you were just imprecise in what you said?