What exactly is a "progressive", and how does it differ from a garden variety liberal?

Question

Are liberals so ashamed of their warped values and general unpopularity that they have decided to abandon the tradtional term in favor of a new label so the uninformed won't know what they are?

I'm a proud Conservative, and will happily tell anyone who happens to ask. If the day ever comes when I feel the need to hide that fact, it's time to re-examine my political philosophy. I guess our friends on the left aren't quite that intellectually honest.

Answer 1

That's like asking, "What's the difference between an undocumented worker, an illegal immigrant, an illegal alien, or an illegal invader?". They're all the same! Of course it all depends on the current level of political correctness and whether or not the American people are gullible enough to fall for it.

Answer 2

What exactly is a garden variety liberal? The traditional term is democrat, not liberal. Progressive, not stuck in the same rut doing the same things over and over expecting different results. There is nothing wrong with conservatives, most of my views are actually conservative, I'm not an extremist and don't support extreme agendas by either party. The problem with conservatives is they have been shut out of the republican party by the right wing religious zealots. How can any conservative defend President Bush and his spending, his meddling in spying on Americans under the guise of defending us, his increasing the size of the federal government? All things conservatives say they are totally against. I don't think you need to re-examine your political philosophy but maybe you should examine more closely those who you choose to give your vote.

Answer 3

Progressives are mostly those who have become disillusioned by both political parties.

Liberals have hijacked the Democratic party, and made a joke of it being any kind of balancing power. There are democrats that aren't as liberal, but by allowing the ted kennedies and nancy pelosis to decide their agenda they have made a huge mistake, and were only able to reclaim the house and senate (only barely the senate) due to the majority of americans who have become sick and tired of being lied and condescended to by war happy mental midgets.

Neoconservatives have taken over the Republican party - and if you are actually a proud conservative (and not just a party line toeing sycophant) then you might have noticed of late how none of the fiscal, foreign, domestic, or other policies being put forward by the current band of spastic dumbf**ks in the white house are even remotely 'conservative'.

I'm a registered independent, and I vote for the individual, not the party. Neither party has the best interests of this country in mind, and neither will get my allegiance unless they start taking a good hard look at reality, and get their heads out of their azzes.

Answer 4

Calling yourself conservative when you are actually an authoritarian radical, is even more dishonest than those Liberals that adopted the Progressive name because Authoritarian Radicals managed to attach all kinds of strawdog policies to the name that no actual liberal ever was in favor of.

Personally I think that was a bad thing to do, because the Real Liberal Ideals are what this country was founded on, and the Fascist Authoritarian Radicals need to be outed for the Right Wing Authoritarian (RWA) psychopaths they are.

By RWA description, Actual Conservatives are Liberals because they favor actual Freedom and Democracy. If you are seriously at odds with the Real Conservative ideals of Barry Goldwater or John Dean then you cannot be a real conservative proud or otherwise.

So if you are proudly claiming a lie you are worse that those who are trying to explain their actual beliefs

Answer 5

Actually the term progressive has been around for centuries, as far as politics is concerned. It's nothing new, and it was actually a conservative that brought the term back into popularity (Bill O'Reily with the alleged " Secular Progressive movement") When some one designates themselves as a progressive it just means that they work for beneficial change...or progress. There may be some progressive Republicans...not likely, but you never know.

***I call myself liberal, though I'd like to think that I am also a progressive. Because I do hold some conservative beliefs some people call be a "paleo-con". I am a big admirer of such "REPUBLICANS" as Teddy Roosevelt who fought monopolies and had a great respect for the environment.



****RIGHT YOU ARE KEN...heehee

Answer 6

Conservative = Small government with limited involvement in peoples personal lives, right?

So I guess you are against homeland security, the military, and are pro abortion and gay rights?

Terminology changes over the years. Humans come up with new words to describe things. Go 20 years into the past and ask if a store sells "Ipods" and see what I mean. Times change, language does the same. It's not a sign of personal weakness that they develop a new word to describe themselves.

Answer 7

Proud Socialist.

Answer 8

I believe it is simply a renaming of that particular group, just like Conservative became "Compassionate Conservative". Both are PR moves that really mean nothing because neither party really gives a crap about what the citizens want.

Answer 9

Progressives believe that the constitution should not be interpreted by it's original intent but should change with the times. It's a good thing that our founding fathers put safeguards in the constitution preventing such populistic ideals.

Answer 10

A progressive is like a Golden Delicious, and a good old liberal is like a red delicious.
In the end their both apples, they just taste a little different.