> something like a winding number (which has to be an integer). Electric charge is a kind of "defect" or "kink" in the photonic field, while color charge (quarks) are defects in the strong-force field, etc.
Quark's don't have integer charge
Redefine the down quark charge as the fundamental unit and you lose nothing.
Redefine the down quark charge as the fundamental unit and you lose nothing.