Who defines "progressive"?

[liberalpragmatist]

Or is "not progressive enough" code for "so-and-so is on the right of me on my pet issue"?

Or, just as often "so-and-so once worked with so-and-so who's to the right of me and therefore not a progressive"?

What makes the pro-free-trade, pro-NAFTA Al Gore a "progressive"? How about the budget hawk, Howard Dean? What makes the anti-choice-till-2002 Dennis Kucinich a progressive?

[Phoebe Loosinhouse]

1. me. nt

[AllentownJake]

8. Nope its me

[Coexist]

12. wow. sorry. I've begun the vetting process for that post already.

[napoleon_in_rags]

2. Opposite of conservative.

...the idea that conservatives want to "conserve" the status quo, and are resistant to change. Progressive to me indicates the recognition that the times require change, and the willingness to make changes according to necessity. The definition is somewhat flexible to me beyond that.

[Trajan]

3. The concept of 'Progressivism' is historical ...

The personal interpretations are .. personal ....

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Progressivism_in_the_United_States

[Catchawave]

4. Until Progressives embrace Animal Rights' issues.....

I'll never be a "progressive".

http://www.opednews.com/maxwrite/diarypage.php?did=10000

[Fovea]

5. I do.

No. Really, come back!

[Maru Kitteh]

6. Anybody who thinks they are more progressive than you are.

So you know.

Mostly bullshit.

[cliffordu]

7. This is a great question.

Apparently many of the folks here can define what progressive ISN'T, but not what actually is....

[Starry Messenger]

9. Everytime I see that word I think:

[mwei924]

10. Progressives: people who agree with ME on everything!

[HughMoran]

15. You know...

sometimes I wonder if that isn't really the truth.

[Bjorn Against]

11. You could ask the same question of any political labels.

Who defines conservative? Who defines liberal? Who defines left? Who defines right? Who defines center? None of these labels have any meaning beyond the meaning we personally give them, so there can be some debate over what any of these terms mean. That being said however there are a certain set of values that are associated with all of these labels that is generally accepted.

And yes people on the left do get ignored by the Democrats despite all the work we do, if the Democrats want our volunteer hours they should award us with some representation when we help them get elected. I am sick of all these threads telling me I should just be happy with all these so-called "centrists" that get all the power after every election.

[liberalpragmatist]

18. That's not my point

It's one thing to argue intelligently over genuine philosophical disagreements. What I'm seeing, however, is a lot of knee-jerkism, where people practice guilt-by-association politics or define the label so narrowly as to exclude plenty of allies.

[99th_Monkey]

13. Progressive: A Liberal who is ashamed to use the "L-word" ... ~nt~

[HughMoran]

14. I heard the media stating today that Obama was nominating a lot of "progressives"

I was like, ummm, y'all been to DU lately?

:)

[BeFree]

16. Good question

If one looks at the progress this country has made, and at the progress that needs to be made, and one elects to keep the progress going, then one is a progressive.

Contrasted with regressive, ie as that which is known as conservative, progressive takes on its meaning. Conservatives long for the way this country used to be, as in the 50's. As in when blacks were relegated to the back of the bus, gays were seen and not heard, God was taught in schools, etc.

Progressive is more of a social movement, rather than political. But as we all know, politics moves society. So if you believe that politics should be making progress toward gaining the ultimate freedom of the individual, toward more peace, love and understanding, then you can call yourself a political progressive as well as a social progressive.

Let us hope we can have a more sober discussion about what seems to be our chosen label in the larger political/societal arena, because once we can nail it down, I believe we can grow our ranks and finally overcome.

[BeFree]

17. Well

I guess the op'er was just a hit and run, wanna see my name on the page, op'er. A pseudo progressive, maybe?

Can't say I blame them tho, most of the posts here are similar bs.