A Democratic Spirit

The belief that truth is manifest is the basis of all tyranny - Sir Karl Popper (?)

'The truth can only be found by a critical process, by a creative process, by a process that is open, and our only criterion for whether one idea is better than another is whether we prefer it.'
Or, actually, if we take this view, there is hardly any room for an objective conception of truth anymore, won't you think? When the only criterion for judgement is subjective, when anything and anyone's contributions can be equally valid.
But maybe that was the whole point: it is far better to resolve differences and conflicts at hand and work things out, than to get entangled in intractable tussles over a slippery notion of abstract truth. And besides, wouldn't any definite choice of criteria be somewhat an arbitrary imposition on an otherwise open critical and creative process?