Let’s Talk About the Word Progressive

You hear the word Progressive in its political context thrown around an awful lot these days. Mostly by those who have no right to lay claim to the title and are merely adopting it for political expediency.

PROGRESSIVE: favoring or advocating progress, change, improvement, or reform, as opposed to wishing to maintain things as they are, especially in political matters: a progressive mayor. (Dictionary.com)

Hillary Clinton considers herself a Progressive, and some people elevate Liz Warren as some kind of Progressive messiah even though calling them Progressive is like calling Trump an intellectual. You can believe it, and bleat it, as much as you want to, but that won’t make it true.

So let’s clear up a few obvious misconceptions about Progressive values that escape most Democrats.

Here’s one that should be a no-brainer. If you support corporate-backed nominees from either Party, you are NOT Progressive. If you were Progressive, you’d insist on an unbought candidate whose first priority is carrying out the will of the People and not Big Business.

You’d spend more time working for election reform and less time wearing stupid pink hats yelling about how you hate Trump. The very idea of supporting a rightwing neo-liberal like Clinton or Biden would sicken you.

If you support corporate candidates, you are not a Progressive.

The notion would also disgust you because Progressives don’t support war-mongering puppets who prefer making money from arms deals over brokering peace. Fostering peace is a top Progressive priority.

If you endorse a pro-war candidate, you are not a Progressive.

If you push the “Vote Blue No Matter Who We Screw” narrative, you’re about as far from being a Progressive as it’s humanly possible to get. Actual Progressives abhor the voter shame and blame game, especially in this fear-mongering manner.

Neo-liberals heavily rely on voting booth-bullying in lieu of a platform, which is why they consistently lose at the polls. No-one likes being manipulated into submission by scare tactics and insults.

If you think it’s your right to control who others vote for and whine when your edicts aren’t obeyed, you are not a Progressive.

Identity politics and an absurd obsession with political correctness gets us nowhere but spinning our collective wheels. It also ensures people are constantly pissed off at each other and accomplishing nothing toward achieving our shared goals.

If you prefer widening the political gulf even further by falling back on pointless divisive drivel, you are not a Progressive.

“Incremental change” is the neo-liberal modus operandi, yet establishment Dems rarely deliver on the actionable promises they yammer on about incessantly during their campaigns. Not even at the incremental snail’s pace!

The GOP will deny you outright with no pretension of shame, but the DNC strings you along with promises they have no intention of keeping.

If consistently misleading the American People is acceptable behavior in your universe, you are not a Progressive.

Progressives, in general, tend to take a problem-solving approach and concentrate on addressing the issues over knee-jerk partisanship. Results take precedence over Party politics and posturing. Neoliberals find this mindset perplexing, and therefore lacking, ignorant, or traitorous.