Why are there restrictions on .us domaine names? I guess that means I can't have private domain registration. Why? Most of the information about this on the internet is too difficult and time consuming to understand. I want to register a domain name as a .us, but I'm unsure if that would be the best domain or if it would end up causing me a bunch of problems because of free speech issues with a democratic open forum format. In other words, would I have "big brother" breathing down my neck?

I thought it would be great to have a domain that ended in .us for my website that is going to be giving commentary about the upcoming presidential campaign/candidates. Would this be the best domaine choice?

No worries, you can use a .us domain name for that. Anything that can be done with a .com can also be used for .us