I rarely go into the political discussions on here. Was curious if a certain political lean is likely to get you banned. I have mostly liberal friends and have noticed they blocked or defriended people on facebook for having opposing views. I also noticed this the opposite way on a really conservatives friends feed who blocked everyone that expressed more liberal views.
I think it's mostly a tone thing rather than a viewpoint thing. I.e. it's not what you say but whether you ever resort to a flippant ad-hominem or a particularly nasty .gif in the course of saying it. On certain topics, lacking the necessary level of respect or discretion could get you banned, especially if a mod indicates you're on thin ice.
One could argue that perhaps what tone is appropriate on a given topic is in the eye of the beholder (moderator). But like Roy said, there are people with the NCE tag on both "sides" -- to the extent there are really "sides" and not a spectrum -- so it's not black and white.
Generally it seems like threads in the CE forum tend to revolve around potentially incendiary topics so the mods try to be very proactive in preventing any sparks from flying, so to speak.
I think that's pretty spot on. For example, I was banned after a topic about the NBA moving the ASG because of the NC bathroom laws (a fairly passionate topic on both sides), and the sparks flew after another poster made it personal. My response was far from cordial, and the ban came to nip it in the bus before it became an all out p---ing match, I'd assume. In retrospect, I knew my language and tone was outside the normal rules, so I just accepted it and asked to be let back in later, which was obliged. Without knowing their personal situations, I'd assume Pho and Granth could do the same.
I certainly don't think it has anything to do with political leaning. We have some strongly liberal voices and strongly conservative ones in CE that keep it civil and don't get banned. That's part of the reason I like CB CE forums. Now a days, people surround themselves in an echo chamber of their own beliefs, sometimes going as far as banning people who think differently, as you mentioned. At CE, that's not the case, and you get reasoned arguments from every spot on the spectrum.
That said, I do wish the kids would sent you a short PM explaining why your being banned, and giving you a chance to defend your actions, as someone else said.