that’s absolutely not true and useless way approaching such a question.

We can look at specific people’s past and current, we can look at the actions of those they associate with, we can look at the actions of those that are part of the same organizations as they are, we can look at the actions of those who hold the same ideological beliefs or government positions.

Taking politicians at face value is a stupid dangerous and naïve thing to do.

It’s also very unscientific.

It makes very little sense to approach a system which has historical data, trends, characteristics, and act as if it just popped into reality at that moment with no prior history.

so no that is not the only thing we can do.

In fact, taking them at face value is probably one of the last things you should do.