ROB – a few things
1. For you to claim that certain positions of the gedolim, i.e. the draft, are clearly against halacha, is foolish. These gedolim are quite knowledgeable in everything you know, plus a lot more you’ll never touch. Additionally, part of daas torah is knowing how to apply halacha to certain situations, and, as was mentioned, being mavin davar mitoch davar, two abilities which you, and just about everyone else with an opinion, lack.
2. Hashkafa is halacha. The rabbonim don’t make up how a Jew is supposed to live. Based on the Torah that they’ve learned, both the technical halacha, the shulchan aruch that you refer to, and everything else in gemara and midrashim that shows how we are supposed to conduct ourselves in day to day life, and how to deal with certain situations. All the Hashkafa is either derived from the Torah or is based on their shikul hadaas, which is more accurate because their whole way of thinking is dictated by the Torah, and therefore their conclusion is more likely to be in line with the Torah.
3. Gedolim aren’t perfect, they’re allowed to make mistakes. The Avos made mistakes, Moshe Rabbeinu made mistakes. But, the chance that they made a mistake is much smaller than the chance that you made a mistake, so for someone so severely lacking in daas Torah to claim that a gadol is wrong and he is right is idiocy, and probably wrong.
4. You are correct that Gedolim argue and you have to pick a rav. The same way that in a shulchan aruch related shayla there can be a machlokes, and they can BOTH be right, Hashkafa is the same thing. And just like there you have to follow your rov, and you wouldn’t pasken for yourself, Hashkafa is the same thing.
So in short, yes, you do have to listen to them, it’s the same as shulchan aruch, and they’re probably right.