In his latest Baltimore Sun column, UMBC political science professor Thomas F. Schaller explores how the 2010 and 2012 elections put Maryland on “a steady path toward leading a new vanguard of progressive policy and politics in the United States.” Maryland voters last year approved both the Dream Act and marriage rights for same-sex couples. This year the Maryland General Assembly has prioritized raising the gas tax and repealing the death penalty. Although a plastic bag tax and bottle deposit bill failed, Schaller suggests both proposals are gaining support and might pass in the coming years. “Already one of America’s …