Here’s the thing about progressive media “truths”: seldom they can withstand direct confrontation with aggregated and rigorously parsed fact, properly and unapologetically presented. And that’s because to the left, “truths” are the product of perception and consensus — what they can create, by convincing reasonable people of the viability of their constructed claims — and this kind of will to power only works if you’re able to marginalize reason and dispassion as racist, misogynistic, homophobic and xenophobic remnants of an outdated patriarchal rationalism.

Fortunately, many of us still cling to such Enlightenment precepts like Michael Moore to bag of bacon-wrapped bear claws. CNS News:

Since Rick Perry became governor of Texas, the number of government workers per capita has marginally declined in the state as private-sector employers created 73.5 percent of the more than 1 million additional jobs now found in the state, according to data published by the Census Bureau and Department of Labor’s Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Between December 2000 when Perry became governor (replacing George W. Bush who had been elected president) and July 2011, the latest month on record, the number of nonfarm civilian employees in Texas grew from approximately 9,563,500 to 10,619,800, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

That means approximately 1,056,300 new nonfarm civilian jobs have been created in Texas during the time Perry has been governor.

That contrasts with a national decline in jobs of approximately 1,295,000 during the same period, according to BLS data.

Of the 1,056,300 new nonfarm civilian jobs created in Texas since December 2000, according to the BLS, 280,400 have been government jobs (including local, state and federal jobs) and 775,900 have been private-sector jobs. That means 73.5 percent of the new jobs created in Texas since Perry became governor have been private-sector jobs.

Meanwhile, from the 2000 Census to the 2010 Census, according to the Census Bureau, the population of Texas grew from 20,851,818 to 25,145,561. The 1,574,700 civilian government workers in Texas in December 2000 (as reported by BLS) equaled one government worker for every 13.2417 people in the state. The 1,855,100 civilian government workers in Texas in July 2011 equaled one government worker for every 13.5548 people in the state.

That means the number of people per government worker in Texas has increased by about a third of a person (0.313) since Perry became governor.

For the Democrats, this gives lie to their attempts to minimize the Texas economy under Perry.

— While for people like me, I’m left wondering how much of that third of a person is a border-jumping illegal enjoying in-state tuition and other amenities on the taxpayer dime — a legitimate concern with Perry that, because they themselves are a bunch of cynical panders, is off-limits to Democrats as the basis for attack.

Live by the pander, die by the pander, I guess.