In Federalist Paper #1, Hamilton admonishes Americans to be circumspect about our own idiological tendencies for the sake of the Republic. [Check out the Federalist papers, especially #1 at: http://avalon.law.yale.edu/18th_century/fed01.asp]
The Founders spent much time considering man's nature because they knew that, to ignore it would lead to a consitution and form of government that would ill-serve the causes of freedom and liberty. They knew that man's nature would, for various reasons and repeating at various times, motivate him to seek something on the whole not in the best interest of real liberty and freedom. They knew they needed to 1) establish some protections against that while at the same time, 2) base the new Constitution on truths and principles that are fundamental to the cause of liberty. They desired for this new Republic to be self-correcting to its intended goals, avoiding the pitfalls of momentary emotions and idiology du jour.
To his credit, while announcing his concern about the dangers of mindless idiological pursuits, Hamilton acknowledged his own idiological biases in Federalist #1. He did that not only to be fair and open in defending the proposed new Constitution but as an exercise in practicing what he admonished us to do likewise. That is, to be circumspect about, acknowledge AND ACCEPT THE FACT OF our own biases, the reasons for them and whether, while seeking some perceived perfection, those biases, if too strongly held, might do more harm than good in advancing the cause of true freedom and liberty.
Being human, the Founders (especially the authors of the Federalist Papers) knew that actions deriving from human nature, albeit for good intentions, could derail our country from the course on which they set it. Indeed, they had to overcome idiological differences themselves to achieve the Constitution in the first place. The course to a new Constitution was, indeed, not smooth sailing. Similar idiologies existed then as exist today. There were fairly equal numbers of liberals and conservatives among the Founders. (It just doesn't seem so from the fact of what they achieved as NO country had ever done before. They weren't as like-minded as most of us think today!) In the process of dealing with their idiologies, they set a good example both for the fact of idiologies existing as well as their commitment to not let that stop overall good progress toward the goal. Thankfully they did a good job documenting their experiences and beliefs so we could learn from them ... if we choose to do so. The BIG questions is, WILL we so choose?
The good news is that human nature, besides having the capacity (tendency?) to derail things, was also the diving force behind a real commitment to achieve a more perfect union for the purpose of freedom (ie, in spite of human nature). They believed that the human desire for freedom and liberty could remain the engine that keeps righting the ship as it rolls to the right and to the left. If keeping the ship afloat remains the primary focus of all effort, we can stay the course on which they set us, toward the ever more (although never) perfect union.
For the past ten years, especially the past four since Democrats took control of congress, idiology has too much trumped the overall good. The Founders sought to establish balance within and between the branches of government. However, it has become increasing partisan over the past ten years. While a Republican congress under Bush was fairly idiological and selfish, the Democratic congress of the past four years has become idiology on steroids. The Founders knew and we should recognize(!) that this is folly for our country.
We need to recognize that President Obama's compromise tax proposal is a VERY NEEDED step back from the idiological nonsense that has become too standard and too accepted by The People!
Instead of each side, when in power, creating idiologically biased legislation that the other side is duty-bound to spend valuable time UNdoing the next time it is in power, we need them all work to achieve some balance that will stand for a while. If both sides spend all their energy undoing what the other side did while it was in power, we'll go nowhere fast. While they're busy rearranging the deck chairs the ship of state WILL run aground.
I commend President Obama for backing away from his idiologically myopic pursuits of the previous two years in creating a tax change framework last week that achieves imperfect progress. Better imperfect progress than none at all. That's the model our Founders set in place and it worked pretty well for two hundred years. Question remains whether the Democratic congress will join President Obama and, in the process, ascede to the obvious will of The People who last month sent them a clear message. To them I say, serve the will of The People and our future prosperity, not your narrow idiology.
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