In general, the idea that politics should be considered "off-topic" here is understandable; the venues for that type of discussion are numerous, after all. Pol

In general, the idea that politics should be considered "off-topic" here is understandable; the venues for that type of discussion are numerous, after all. Political problems that are also technical[1], on the other hand, are something for which we should make a exception. It could be said to that we have a duty to address those issues, because we (the greater population of technically-minded people) are the people with the necessary background to deal with the problem. Yes... we need a lot more practice in that area, and political discussions could be handled a lot better. Avoiding politics on technical forums entirely means it will have to be handled (at least in part) be handled elsewhere by people who lack some of the background. Thats still wors some of the time, but we've all seen the cases where a ruling is made or law is passed that isn't even close to reality. Put simply: we should really learn to clean up our own house, and that includes the hard and/or annoying political subjects. [1] examples: "Net Neutrality", the NSA imbroglio, some copyright/patent stuff (DMCA)