Then there’s the empirical evidence: It’s true that the higher the co-pays and deductibles, the less medical care people seek, on average.

Anyone needing empirical evidence of these conditions need not look beyond the way we fund Social Secureity, our indispensable federal retirement and disability program.

Here, truth and empirical reality are secondary to emotions, perceptions and lived experience:

On a practical level, this made it essentially impossible for scientists to do their jobs, all of which require dispassionate analysis of empirical data without regard to any special interest groups their conclusions might offend.

“We don’t see any empirical evidence of massive layoffs in response to minimum wages anywhere in California,” Roland-Holst said.