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In an earlier post, Doug in Columbus raised a great question - what is a "Progressive"?
Is it someone who echos the rantings of the radical liberal democratic agenda? Is it communism by another name? Is it 60+ hippies who still dreams of Haight Ashbury while drinking designer coffee in Birkenstocks?
I'm a conservative, who's mostly voted republican in the past and I certainly hope the above is not the case. From my perspective, a progressive is someone who is fed up with the status quo and would like to change the balance of power from the elite class back to the people. Left coast, right coast & fly over country - the majority of people have similar dreams, desires and needs. We become progressive, or desire change, even if conservative, when we see our ability to reach those desires and needs thwarted by either an inactive govt or and over active govt. Guess what, regardless of the activity level, it's still govt and it can screw up a free lunch - pick your favorite govt entity - you have a million ideas about how to better that agency or how to better the citizens of this awesome nation - why? Because govt cant' do it as well as normal folks outside of DC can plainly see.
The folks in DC, both sides of the isle, the folks in Columbus, both sides are the elites - they are all corrupt and only want to act in order to better themselves - even if they're noble in their pursuits on the campaign trail - they're quickly corrupted by the sheer power of their office. It's time to change that, let them know that we the people have the power, we're the ones who make this country go.
Also part of the elite class are the media types, hollywood, big corporate CEOs, Universities, secret societies, churches, and bureaucrats - I'm sure we all have someone or something in this list that drives us crazy.
Ideas on how to hold those accountable are all welcome - but exercising our right of free speech is a good start - but something needs to be put into action and soon - or we'll have one helluva caste system in a country that was founded on equality and e pluribus unum.
If any of this remotely sounds progressive, then count me it - otherwise I'll just hang out to get various points of view and maybe learn something new, and even on a slim remote chance of potentially sparking an enlightening thought in someone too.
Progressives believe that people are naturally good and that a just, non-violent world is the natural state of a society (except when there is a shortage of resources). Liberals believe that The People can be trusted to elect leaders. The Founders were liberals. The richest Founder was John Hancock who had $700,000 of wealth in today's dollars. The Declaration of Independence and Constitution were extremely progressive at that time. They were takin' on the power-elites of the day--the British crown and the East India Tea Company. John Locke is the founder of modern day liberalism. He was all about equality, liberty, etc. You know, "with liberty and justice for all." The Founders did not believe in dynastic wealth--and none of the Founders passed on that much wealth other than the slave-owning founders.
Conservatives tend to believe that people are intrinsically IMMORAL. Therefore, The People should NOT really be trusted to organize society and elect leaders. Basically, conservatives believe that feudal lords should rule the roost. Corporations are at least AMORAL from the conservative viewpoint. The CEO of United Healthcare (an insurer) made $1.7 BILLION last year and all his company does is push papers around and tell doctors how to practice medicine. Meanwhile 45 million people go w/o health insurance. The Royalists were the conservatives at the time of the American Revolution. Thomas Hobbes is the founder of modern day conservatism. Hobbes was all about keeping "the rabble" or the commonfolk down and the feudalism in place.
I believe that since conservative politicians don't believe in govt., they tend to use it for their own means (to make them and their friends more rich and powerful). That's why we've seen so much institutional corruption and abuse of power in Ohio and at the federal level under Gov. Taft and President Bush.
It's too bad that so many people have become cynical about politics---it plays into the hands of the feudal lords. The only other option to politics and representative govt. is a dictatorship. I don't think that all politicians are evil. It would help if we could get real campaign finance reform so politicians didn't feel beholden to all the monied lobbies to get and stay in office. I believe the monied elites do all they can to divide the common-folk through their ownership of the media.
I am not a commie by the way. I believe in a brand of capitalism in which society sets standards for it (require meat to be tested for mad cow and e coli, for example). I also think there are some things that the govt should do rather than for-profit companies (fight wars, imprison people, educate children). Remember, theoretically the govt can be held accountable by the people. Corporations are less accountable and have only one mission--to increase shareholder value by starting more wars, makin' laws to imprison more people, in the cases from above. Govt-owned factories are a bad idea.
The founding of America was truly a beautiful thing. If you get a chance, read the Declaration of Independence and the U.S. Constitution. Take note of all the references to the "general welfare of the people". To me the Founders clearly believed that the proper role of govt is to be a "backstop" in the lives of the citizenry (not a nanny, btw).