The Blazer’s Edge Best Things Ever Tournament just reached another major milestone. Round 2 has been completed and we are now prepared to jump into the Sweet Sixteen part of the bracket. Most of the matchups will be tougher and the action will move quickly, so make sure you keep up each day!
For those who aren’t familiar, we started a couple weeks ago with a March Madness bracket of 64 good things in life, chosen somewhat randomly and arranged almost completely randomly. Each day we’re giving you
two posts. In them, you choose between two of those good items. The one that gets the most votes will advance to the next round. And soon…next week, in fact…we’ll be able to name the official Blazer’s Edge Best Thing Ever for 2026! It’s our way to pass time during the dog days of NBA summer.
(For those asking, if we do this again next year, we will solicit ideas for the bracket from the community, and YES, I promise that Lord of the Rings will get another chance with a more favorable bracket position!)
This post asks you to choose between Guitars and Democracy.
Guitars are the brightest shining instrument in the Boomer Rock-n-Roll revolution and a staple of American music. Most of your favorite songs rely upon them heavily, either as bedrock instrumentation for vocalists or in soaring solo interludes. Like a basketball, a guitar can be picked up anywhere, anytime, used solo or as part of a team. It’s the ultimate personal instrument which is somehow also completely communal, as John Denver sung around a campfire will show you.
But democracy, as a political system, underpins many of our formal relationships with each other. It’s actually a pretty cool way of doing things: everybody in the group gets a say. Nobody gets to dominate. Nobody is left out. It can lead to some quirky results (as our LOTR fans found out in Round 1 of this tournament!) but overall, it’s one of the best ways of doing community we know.
There’s no requirement for weight, necessity, or any other criterion in this tournament. So far democracy has bowled through the proceedings, offered a semi-serious, but ultimately futile challenge by toilet paper. Has it finally met its match, though? Or will the political art form sail on into the Elite Eight bracket? Guitars or Democracy? Register your vote below and share why you think that way!
