And a Happy 4th to all!

I can make an analogy about audio opinions and politics...

In audio, acoustics science matter the most as in politics geo-political "objective" situations matter the most for our understanding. Geo-politics is to acoustics what bi-party politics is to an upgrade, a necessary good or evil, relative to our acoustics understanding..

National bi-party politics is often small money for the blind. There is one party with two names. No democracy save for the fool...

Celebrate your country with no bi-partisan opinions , they are already obsolete.

Happy 4 july week to all Americans from a neighbour...

@mitch2 

Brilliant post and great points well stated.

Happy (Belated) 4th:

Politcal rants and other "free" speech:

Being involved in various "unite" groups (including my own) for the past 8 years, I’ve discovered a relevant question:

Are you are warrior?  Or, are you a sniper?  A warrior is one who puts on their armor and stands face-to-face battling for their deeply-held beliefs.  A sniper is one who hides in the bushes from a safe distance and takes pot shots at others.

For those who "warriors" who want to take part in REAL political debates can do it here: 

https://braverangels.org

I promise you’ll have a full 3 minutes to make your point -- without interruption -- and will be treated with dignity and respect.  The organizers and administrators are a 50/50 spilt between "reds" and "blues" and this is done on purpose.  The group is also granular and broken down into various caucuses.  Annual membership is only $20.  Did I mention that the group actually wants to resolve problems between us and not amplify them?

To those Unapologetic Fire-Breathing Partisans in our group who like to ambush audio topics, other members, and/or harmless goodwill wishes with distain and contempt do have the option of the RIGHT place to discuss --- politics. It’s prudent, relevant and a good use of (everyone’s) time to take those discussions there.  If we had a member that consistently (and passionately) spewed the superiority of a particular American-made, air-cooled, rear-engined, opposed piston, 6-cylinder vehicle, we’d be wise to direct them to a Corvair forum.  Not everyone on an audio forum is interested in following your deep dive into (highly skewed) automotive history.

Same with politics on this forum.

In closing, I can’t overemphasize the value HERE of our common links and connections.  An audio forum may not save the world.  But, it can recognize our humanity and bring out the best versions of ourselves (and others) for part of our day.  And, at the very least, suspend what we don’t like about each other for a brief period of time.

- Johnny Youniteus

Governments are the reflection of the people, certainly we are divided, and think about why we are so divided. We have a two party system, winner take all, and this the way it'll stay until we get rid of winner take all. So we have this reoccurring pattern, Dems in power, they do such a good job of it, voted out of power, Repubs in power, such a good job they're voted out, and so on and so on ad nauseam. We move in circles rather than progress. I believe this entire process is broken, I'm well aware of all the failures by both parties.  Our gvt. no longer serves us, too many listen to all the propaganda and believe it, the other side is the devil. But then I suppose this is to be expected, people prefer zero sum games to win, win scenarios. Perhaps democracy is not inherently a preferred form of gvt, too many compromises for most.

It is disheartening to me that a celebratory thread on this forum turned into an "us vs. them" rant.  However, not entirely surprising given that the folks here represent the near 50/50 split in ideologies within our country at this time.  Whatever your beliefs, the one thing that makes America great is our ability to elect our officials – we get to choose our own destiny! 

@mitch2 +100 

Back in 2012 I was on a business trip to Denver, a city that had welcomed a number of refugee communities. It was the evening of one of the Romney-Obama presidential debates, held in downtown Denver, and I asked my taxi driver -- who was clearly an immigrant -- what he thought of it. His answer:

"I think it’s great! I came here from Chad. If you expressed your opinion in the streets of Chad, like Americans do here, you would be killed."

I cherish the free exchange of ideas and viewpoints, but recent events have me wondering if we have become so tribal that we can’t do so any more... I hope there is a way out. I’m old enough to remember the rhetoric, the assassinations, and the general chaos of the 1960s, and was really hoping not experience a repeat in my lifetime...