"The struggle to see things as they are
is perhaps the fundamental driver of Western civilization.
There is a long but direct line
from Aristotle and Archimedes
to Locke, Hume, Mill, and Darwin,
and from there through Orwell and Churchill
to Martin Luther King writing
his "Letter from Birmingham City Jail."
It is the agreement that objective reality exists,
that people of goodwill can perceive it,
and that other people will change their views
when presented with the facts of the matter."
Thomas E. Ricks, journalist and author
