This forum is a community of its users whose common binding is as specified in our Mission Statement- the forum layout is determined by what the free market of ideas here will support. As Brian4Liberty indicated, many good-idea subforums just never take traction and get little traffic, so it's not an easy issues to contend with. The site staff works to balance the ebb and flow of the community and political happens to find the best fit solution for the forum.
There are some good ideas in here, thank you. I understand the point of the original three. IMO, the best value of discussions like these come when there is a fine-tuned written product that comes out of all the discussion. A dedicated author (or team) could leverage the discussion to create a written work. More ideas never perused...
Of the three listed, I would think that the "What kind of new house" is effectively what the "Political Philosophy" forum is about... it's just not quite packaged that way- but it would be similar discussion. The other two we have generally combined as one- but good food for thought on the split. In some ways the just removed "Marketing Strategy, Influence & Persuasion" type forum was a part of that, but geared for the campaign. As always- the key is finding the right formula.
As sailingaway noted- there are some changing coming, for sure. Some have already been done recently, mostly moving out now overkill 2012 forums.
Again- thank you for the input. This forum is really about the community of posters- the site staff just needs to serve them as best possible.