A Quote

You won't find anything in the middle of the road but yellow stripes and dead armadillos.

--Jim Hightower

We have to figure out how to get past that thinking without believing we can make a compromise on facts that's worth a shit.

2+2=4. 

Not 5. 

And it serves no good purpose to "compromise" at 4½. In fact, it does us all harm.

The answer is 4, and no other answer will do.  Because if you start with a false premise, it's all but impossible to arrive at a true conclusion.