It is an unfortunate truism of politics that partisans tend to believe the worst about members of the opposite party and no amount of facts — if, indeed, facts can be agreed upon — move people from their entrenched positions. Largely, I think, it’s all about gaining or keeping power and not actually discovering the truth or solving problems.

In a relativistic age when everyone has their own “truth,” how does one discern what is objectively true and what is false? And the even bigger question is how does one persuade someone who refuses to believe irrefutable facts that they are wrong?

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Readers may email Cal Thomas at tcaeditors@tribpub.com. Look for Cal Thomas’ new book “America’s Expiration Date: The Fall of Empires and Superpowers and the Future of the United States” (HarperCollins/Zondervan).

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