Another sensible voice.

Matt Miller, a Fortune columnist guest-writing in the New York Times, asks today if persuasion is dead. Instead of facts, all we hear are talking points and arguments.

By contrast, marshaling a case to persuade those who start from a different position is a lost art. Honoring what's right in the other side's argument seems a superfluous thing that can only cause trouble, like an appendix. Politicos huddle with like-minded souls in opinion cocoons that seem impervious to facts.

Miller invites us to join the uphill battle to win minds, rather than just inflaming those who agree with us. That this is what people really want. A welcome call. I'm in.