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Has anybody gone and researched what "progressive" means in American politics? As far as I can tell, it means very little which speaks to our present political problems, and what it does mean, we don't want. There are certainly a lot of things wrong with America, but lack of progress is not one of them. Progress we got, way too much of it for me.
I can tell you what "progressive" means to me (and perhaps many others): decent, reasonable access to healthcare; a living wage; a reasonable and respectful approach to the Constitution and Bill of Rights (and by respectful, I don't mean adoration--rather, a respect for the law); a refusal to torture, render or engage in ridiculously lethal and expensive wars.
I'll stop there.
I think the term "progressive" replaced that of "leftist" because the latter came to be associated with stuff like welfare, out-of-wedlock marriage (issues from the '70s, in other words). Dear ol' Wiki puts it this way: "Progressives see progressivism as an attitude towards the world of politics that is broader than conservatism vs. liberalism, and as an attempt to break free from what they consider to be a false and divisive dichotomy."
