[lostphilosopher]

There's a lot of good stuff here. But there seems to be a thread of "correct political opinions are purely subjective." This is sometimes true I suspect, but there are two cases where it isn't:

Some "opinions" are actually just awareness of or acceptance of objective fact. To stick with the theme: Obama either gave or did not give $x to y charity in year z. Two people can hold differing subjective opinions, but one is objectively wrong.

The other case is when a political "opinion" seems subjective but is really based on a set of objective facts. This is where debate in the current climate goes to hell. I've found that people I disagree with often hold rational positions based on the "facts" they believe to be true. I just don't think any of their facts are accurate. One of us in that case is objectively correct, but resolving that takes an authority we both believe to be canon. That doesn't exist.