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I confess that I don't have a stake in the debate about whether the American left should call themselves liberal or progressive. However, I hate to see the progressive movement, a diverse and complicated movement, identified entirely with Woodrow Wilson and Theodore Roosevelt. Many participants in the progressive movement were enthno-nationalists, but many were not. Jane Addams was a progressive and a tireless campaigner on behalf of civil liberties and immigrant rights. Addams was an important and popular political figure, who advocated principles that are important to the contemporary American left.
Additionally, Addams and other progressives helped make the New Deal possible - many prominent New Dealers actually were affiliated with Hull House and other Progressive organizations. At the same time, Progressives like Dewey, Addams and Croly produced a far more sophisticated political philosophy than any of the new dealers ever did. The progressives were a diverse group and they were not perfect; however, on the whole, they provide a more fruitful intellectual resource for contemporary leftists.
