Mozart's A4 was 421-425 Hz. (This would explain why some of his music, notably his Coronation Mass when pitched to the modern A440, is so painful for sopranos, and maybe it means the Queen of the Night's aria in The Magic Flute shouldn't be quite as fiendishly difficult). In Germany during the late Renaissance it was often much higher, to the point where lutenists were breaking strings - but the very bright sound that resulted was popular at the time. Recently some bel canto-style opera singers wanted A4 set to 432, which was what Verdi used, and which takes into consideration the passagio (change in register) of the singers' voices.

This, of course, is a digression from your point, which is that some parts of the Democratic party are out of tune with the rest of it. In the current context I would suggest that the problem is that a few of the oboists suck at making reeds and aren't interested in fixing their problem. They'll just keep playing and enjoying the dissonance.

I finally switched to carrying a crystal-controlled electronic tuner. In the case of pitch arguments, I simply handed it to the person complaining about my A and had them tune their instrument to that tuner's pitch, which was always the one I used. Oddly enough, the complainer was always a violinist. But that's a different issue.

All of the reeds I made for myself centered on that pitch. Oddly enough, A4 on the oboe is probably that instrument's least stable note, pitch-wise, which is why oboists hate giving the A, and is also why all oboists carry a pitch standard with them at all times. I used to use a tuning fork, but finally switched to a high-quality electronic tuner, since arguments occur. My A, always played with the tuner sitting on my music stand, was bang-on at 440 Hertz, since I could see the needle of the tuner's meter centered as I played it. The tuner would also play the note through its speaker, if someone was still dissatisfied with the pitch I gave.

I often wished to be relieved of that duty. I'm sure other oboists have felt the same at times. It is too often a point of contention.

As for the Soprano's F6 in that aria, I have great sympathy. Mozart's pitch standard was far more forgiving, indeed.

Not that I need it, since I don't play the oboe. But it's kind of fun to see exactly how out of tune my piano is, though for now there's nothing I can do about it since I'm not letting anybody in the house.

However, in my oboe playing days, the cell phone did not exist.

I've always played in bands that usually tune from the bottom up - starting with the tuba with the other voices joining from low to high, first the other bass/baritone voices (euphoniums, bassons, bass clarinets, baritone sax), next the tenor trombones, next the alto voices (alto sax and horns); to trumpets, and ending with the clarinets, flutes and oboe. In my high school and college days, bands tuned to a B-flat. These days the band tunes to an F. (Tuning to F is really helpful to trombones that have an F-attachment - where concert F is played in first position on both the B-flat and F side.) Then, someone who can be relied upon sounds an A for the saxes, clarinets and flutes.

The benefit of cellphone and other small electronic tuners is that every should be close to tuned to the 440-A standard before the band is tuned.

To your analogy, the 440-A is accepted as truth. The country would be greatly improved if we could agree on obvious truths.