All "progressives"....or anybody else...

[Chilly]

Nothing like deflecting the issue at hand - great job. Not being able to answer a simple question IN MY LAST must be exhausting.

 

Not really. Answering the question would take a long discussion on the fundamental difference between the history of Democrats, the New Deal, current Democrats, and Progressivism.

 

Your question implies that progressives are liberal Democrats, which they are not.

[OCinBuffalo]

Not really. Answering the question would take a long discussion on the fundamental difference between the history of Democrats, the New Deal, current Democrats, and Progressivism.

 

Your question implies that progressives are liberal Democrats, which they are not.

My question implies nothing of the kind - it merely asks if the word "progressive" which is used by some people(whoever they are) to define their thinking, in terms of being superior to other approaches, is a good word to use when many of the policies that are based on that thinking are clearly not IMPROVING anything. Once again, if a Health Care provider cannot take on Medicaid patients and still stay financially viable, HOW IS THAT PROGRESS?

 

Also, I clearly stated that liberal Democrats are not the only Democrats three posts ago. So how does this matter? I am not referring to Democrats, I am talking about so-called progressives!

[Chilly]

My question implies nothing of the kind - it merely asks if the word "progressive" which is used by some people to define their thinking, in terms of being superior to other approaches, is a good word to use when many of the policies that are based on that thinking are clearly not IMPROVING anything. Once again, if a Health Care provider cannot take on Medicaid patients and still stay financially viable, HOW IS THAT PROGRESS?

 

Actually, it does.

 

The distinction is important because liberals have started to hijack the term progressive after the term liberal was hijacked by the right in this country.

 

True progressives view currently failing programs as just that - failing and would advocate a different solution. Historically, true progressives typically advocate a governmental solution (not always), but they view the government with an amount of distrust and are always looking for opportunities to reform governmental policies.

 

Liberals are much more ideologically based. They trust that when they institute a policy, it will work. They are much less skeptical of the government and see much less need for reform.

 

Liberals have hijacked the term "progressive" and applied it to their ideology as it shares a lot of similarities, but the difference is important for the exact reason that you are asking the question.

[OCinBuffalo]

Actually, it does.

 

The distinction is important because liberals have started to hijack the term progressive after the term liberal was hijacked by the right in this country.

 

True progressives view currently failing programs as just that - failing and would advocate a different solution. Historically, true progressives typically advocate a governmental solution (not always), but they view the government with an amount of distrust and are always looking for opportunities to reform governmental policies.

 

Liberals are much more ideologically based. They trust that when they institute a policy, it will work. They are much less skeptical of the government and see much less need for reform.

 

Liberals have hijacked the term "progressive" and applied it to their ideology as it shares a lot of similarities, but the difference is important for the exact reason that you are asking the question.

So what you are saying is that liberals, and I guess conservatives, have no business calling themselves progressives?

[Chilly]

So what you are saying is that liberals, and I guess conservatives, have no business calling themselves progressives?

 

Yep.

[John Adams]

Progress means "to improve". So if one is a "progressive" I would think that means that they are concerned primarily with improvement. Or, at the very least, the solving of problems->results.

 

[...impossible to follow argument]

 

Idiot corollary No. 2.

[molson_golden2002]

1)True progressives view currently failing programs as just that - failing and would advocate a different solution. Historically, true progressives typically advocate a governmental solution (not always), but they view the government with an amount of distrust and are always looking for opportunities to reform governmental policies.

 

2) Liberals are much more ideologically based. They trust that when they institute a policy, it will work. They are much less skeptical of the government and see much less need for reform.

 

3) Liberals have hijacked the term "progressive" and applied it to their ideology as it shares a lot of similarities, but the difference is important for the exact reason that you are asking the question.

1) I really like your definition of Proressivism. Back when it was beginning a key goal was to reform government to get rid of the Boss Tweed characters running things. This was mainly with the Republican party, but so many immigrats benefitted from corrupt government they fought it. Alnog with this cleaning up of government was a move to make it more interventionist to help society run more smoothly.

 

2) I dunno, maybe, maybe not.

 

3) Also the Republicans, who originally took up the Progressive casuse, came to distance themselves from it, especially in the 1920's. With the New Deal, Progressivism and the Democratic party became much more closely tied together