One of my guiding principles is "people believe what they want to believe." I came to that rather late in life, so, to my regret, I wasted a colossal amount of time trying to persuade folks who simply wouldn't change their thinking because they didn't want to. Why did I bother engaging them?

Some backup: People believe in God because that brings them a measure of solace. Good will be rewarded in the end, and evil will be punished by a just higher power.

People generally don't believe because they don't want to be judged, and there is no demonstrable proof of God one way or another. My Catholic belief is based on the intricacies of nature and the human body. But I WANT to believe.

Another good example is abortion. People believe that destroying a fetus is justified for a variety of reasons. And no "human rights" argument will dissuade them. That's because they don't consider a fetus "human."

Of course that's an opinion, not a fact. Exactly when human life begins is subjective. I err on the side of life. That seems just to me. I believe adoption is a better option than the destruction of a potential human being.

Same thing in politics. President Biden and the Democrats will tell you that the economy is improving under Joe. That's what they want to believe. But the data says differently.

Under Biden, "real wages" have fallen more than 5 percent. That stat is from the House Budget Committee and is based on the purchasing power and take-home pay of American workers.

During Trump's four years, real wages rose nearly 9 percent because of tax cuts and low inflation.

But millions of voters don't want to believe that and blindly reject the statistics. And there's nothing you can say to make them believe the data which is true.

Right now, many voters think Trump is a criminal, even as others believe Biden trumps Trump in the felony arena. Obviously, there have been no criminal convictions yet, so the judgments are based on desirable outcomes. But even after the situations are legally decided, people will continue to believe what they want to believe about those two men.

If a person succumbs to false beliefs and rejects accepting verifiable truth, they live in a delusional state. This is dangerous for a society based on justice and fairness. And how many folks do you know who are delusional? I'm betting a lot.

I hate to end with a cliche, but I must quote one of the greatest actors of our time, Jack Nicholson. Facing Tom Cruise in a military courtroom, Nicholson's movie character blurts out the classic line: "You can't handle the truth!"

To many Americans, truer words have never been spoken.

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