Rather than address job creation or the 6 billion dollar budget deficit my state faces the Republican legislative majority has concentrated on issues such as voter ID and gay marriage. They succeeded in placing a constitutional amendment proposal banning gay marriage on the 2012 ballot even in the face of a current DOMA law forbidding just that. The fact that they chose to put their energy into such things only proves to me something I have felt for a long time, that Republicans and, yes, most all politicians are driven more by ideology than actually doing good things for the people.

The 2010 election which brought in a wave of right wing elected officials nationwide appears to have been interpreted as a mandate for these conservatives to push their reactionary agenda down the throats of a helpless public. I will never understand how winning slightly over 50% of the vote gives them the idea that everyone wants them to foist their ideology on all of us. Wouldn’t they think that nearly half of the people don’t agree with them and maybe they should look to compromise just a little to hopefully make things right with the most citizens possible.

In a word, no. They assume that they can just go ahead and ramrod every idea they have been salivating over for years into law. This slavish devotion to ideology over pragmatism is indicative of a patent disregard for the greater welfare of us all and a manic desire to control our lives. I find it ludicrous that the right rattles on about how the socialist liberals want to control everyone’s lives when that is exactly what they want to do themselves.

This rabid effort to conduct social engineering, another thing they accuse progressives of doing, just goes to show that the things they hate about us are only valid when it is us doing them. When they do them it is perfectly ok. Diversity and tolerance are just fine as long as the result pleases them. If not they scream bloody murder.

Ideology is fine as a guide to move forward. It is not a strict script for our way or bust. I just wish that all politicians would realize that things might just work out if they work toward a via media rather than insisting that they always get their way.

It would do the world a lot of good.