Goodbye to ideology?

While I don't wish to compete with the many post mortems on this Tuesday's election, for me one of the most gratifying results is the apparent rejection of ideologues on both sides of the political spectrum. By ideologue I mean someone who believes that there is only one correct set of beliefs about most major issues, and that those who disagree with those beliefs are not only mistaken but at best dupes and at worst evil.

I had my own run-ins with ideologues, generally of the leftward persuasion, while serving on the Milwaukee school board a few years ago. On a number of issues, there was simply no room for discussion. Most notable was the question of vouchers that would allow low income kids to attend private schools. But other only slightly less emotional issues were busing (theoretically for integration) and standardized tests. It is certainly possible to have a serious discussion of the pros and cons of any of the issues, but members of this group wanted none of that. (In fairness, right-wing ideologues weren't entirely absent; a candidate questionnaire asked only one question--whether I agreed with the Supreme Court's decision in Roe v. Wade. It is hard to think of any issue less relevant to decisions of a school board.)

The Bush administration and the congress that enabled it reflect the dangers of government by ideologues. Sharing the right "conservative" beliefs seems to have been far more important than competence or honesty. This was compounded by the stress on loyalty and efforts to intimadate critics. Rather than relishing discussion and argument they created an intellectual wasteland in which those who might challenge their actions were driven out or marginalized, as moderate Republicans came to discover.

While the Bush administration tried to win by narrowing its ideological base, the Democrats succeeded by broadening theirs, recruiting an ideologically diverse group of candidates. While the heretic burners on the left are still active, the two attempts at purges I am aware of--against Joe Lieberman in Connecticut and Jeff Plale here in Wisconsin--ultimately failed.

So both for the way the Republicans lost and the way Democrats won, I think there are hopes for us pragmatists. But we will see what lessons are taken from the election.