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Like "conservative," "progressive" is a term associated with a particular view of history. The conservative wants to stand still or go back; the progressive wants to move forward. Progressivism implies a view of history as perpetual progress; conservatism, a view of history as decline from a better world in the past. Needless to say, nobody who actually thinks this way could function.
Really? Because I do. It's lurching, slow progress, but progress nonetheless. In the United States we have moved from tyranny to democracy. We have freed slaves. We have let women and blacks and lots of other people vote. We outlawed alcohol and then thought better of it. Perhaps we will soon think better of outlawing marijuana. We started allowing gays and lesbians to live openly, then to marry. Sounds like progress to me. And it's what I want to continue to see in this country.
