EvilGenius posted:

OK, but I'm talking about removing ideology from government. Bush still banned stem cell research, based essentially on religious reasons. Gun control is still a huge issue, despite it being hugely successful in most developed countries (I'm not sniping, I'm just trying to think of examples where the US difers from other countries based on ideology rather than evidence).

I also realise that it's not always possible to govern on evidence. The question 'evidence of what' has to be asked. Evidence that your step towards the free market ideal is going to work? And it fails to deal with changes in demographic and population growth, because ways of dealing with that have never been tried before.

I'm just more and more aghast at the political squables of the day. Arguments that could have an objectively correct side, that remain arguments because politicians and the people they serve are stubborn.