What Is A Progressive?

I have read several blog posts and opinion pieces asking a simple question... What is a Progressive? I thought that I might take a whack at providing my own definition.

Once upon a time, when I was but a youth, we had two basic kinds of political critters. We had the Conservative critters and the Liberal critters when I was growing up, but gradually the Liberal critters started to get a bad name. They became known for favoring a large intrusive government that had influence and/or control over every aspect of our lives, and most people didn't really like that idea.

So the term "liberal" fell out of favor with those who most acutely "felt the sting," so to speak. By that, I mean the extreme liberal wing. The most liberal Liberals were the ones who wanted to distance themselves from their own reputation... so they selected a replacement name.

They chose the word "progressive" for a reason. Take a look at the word. It obviously means "one who favors progress." And the word "progress" means "to move forward"... and who doesn't want THAT? So the most liberal of Liberals began to self-identify as Progressives.

But here's my major question... exactly what are they making progress towards?


I think that's a fair question... because not all progress is GOOD. It's possible to "move forward" into a trap, or just plain "progress" yourself right off a little ol' cliff.

Progressives today are basically the old Socialist wing of the Liberal movement. They're the ones who want a strong central government to "help" us in all areas of our lives. They want high levels of spending and a large government workforce. The best solution to any problem is a government solution. They want to expand the entitlement programs of Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid. And they'd DEARLY love for the ObamaCare program to have a single-payer system... government-provided and controlled health care for all.

Progressives believe that we are not taxed enough. I've never yet had a Progressive tell me what percentage of taxation would be "enough." They believe that most people (and by that I DO mean more than 50% of the American populace) should pay NO income taxes, but everyone above that should be taxed as heavily as is possible. A Progressive friend of mine once told me that he didn't care if the government took EVERYTHING HE EARNED in taxes... they'd compensate by giving him enough to live on.

I find that naive trust in the benign and efficient nature of government to be... well, charming. Frustrating, but charming.

Progressives have no faith in the nature of a free market. Nor do they value overly much the concepts of individual freedom and liberty... at least, not when those concepts put the individual above the good of society as a whole. They see the Constitution as a "living document" that can be interpreted to mean whatever they want it to mean.

Progressives are the people who brought us to the place where "Congress shall make no law respecting the establishment of religion or prohibiting the free exercise thereof" results in High School Valedictorians being forbidden to mention God or Jesus in their commencement addresses.

The underlying basis of most, if not all, of the Progressive belief system is strong, central control through the Federal government. And by control, I mean control of EVERYTHING. Though many won't admit it, this includes central planning of the economy... like the Soviets used to do, before they collapsed in economic ruin.

Now, if you think I've been unfair with any of the beliefs I've attributed to Progressives, kindly point out the specifics, and we'll discuss it.

But all in all, the destination that these folks are making progress TOWARDS doesn't really appeal to me. And I'm willing to bet it doesn't much appeal to you, either.