The irony of calling yourself a "progressive"

Progressives and their more-enlightened-than-everyone attitudes, besides being arrogant and deplorable, are really out of sync with their own beliefs.  Progressive means working towards progress.  What's odd is the progressive vision of progress is about as anti-progress as can be imagined. 

Their self-appointed title of progressive, is so far away from reality as to be considered laughable.

Photo: Socialtext.

With the following dictionary.com definitions in mind;

–noun

1. a movement toward a goal or to a further or higher stage: the progress of a student toward a degree.

2. developmental activity in science, technology, etc., esp. with reference to the commercial opportunities created thereby or to the promotion of the material well-being of the public through the goods, techniques, or facilities created.

3. advancement in general.

4. growth or development; continuous improvement: He shows progress in his muscular coordination.

5. the development of an individual or society in a direction considered more beneficial than and superior to the previous level.

Consider the following types of platform positions that call into question their chosen self-describing adjectives.

On health care reform

They have taken a position that the costing of medical services will be determined by the government.  They will stifle competition in the insurance industry, drive up costs (ultimately to taxpayers), dampen innovation as the profit motive is removed from the medical sciences equation, and ultimately decrease, not increase health care quality and perhaps even have a negative impact on mortality rates.  This does that relates to progress on either a scientific or societal level.

On taxation

A progressive tax is defined as a higher tax on higher financial achievers. That is inherently anti-innovation. In a highly competitive world, anti-innovation equates to anti-job creation.  Furthermore, progressives who want to tax the rich are not only acting on a class warfare mentality that penalizes the successful but they are also discriminatuing against successful people. Since when is discrimination progressive?  This is again on a scientific and societal level regressive, not progressive.

On Cap and Trade / environmentalism

Here there are also two issues.  Firstly, the constant ridicule of those who see flaws in the questionable science of global warming scare-mongers, prevents honest debate on the facts of the debate.  Ridicule is not progressive, it is mere thuggery.  Secondly, the ultimate end point of many proclaimed environmental advocates is the killing of the automobile industry, removal of pesticides, the tearing down of industry, the reduction of the human population and perhaps a return to an agrarian society.  Humanity has worked for millenia to improve our lot.  These Luddite fantasies are as far removed from wanting scientific and societal progress as possible.  A return to a simpler time means a return to more disease, more death, more poverty, more lawlessness and there is nothing noble in it whatsoever.  Again, this is regressive.

National Defense

Remember the push for unilateral nuclear disarmament?  I'll lay down my stick if you do the same?  That may work with some countries but with dictators of any stripe - socialist, facist, communist, or outright lunatic - this is an open invitation to take advantage of the defenseless.  If the United States is the most free nation on the earth, indeed in history, it is not because of some hippy kumbaya love-fest with Stalin or Hitler or Mao or Qadafi or Chavez.  Get your progressive head out of the Utopian sand - peace through strength is an unfortunate reality of this world.  To be anti-national defense is to encourage the destruction of your own society.  That is inevitably not the way towards progress - you can't rely on an Ahmedinejad to enlighten and free up society better than America.  If you think you'd be better off under a different regime, I suggest you try it.  I've talked with those who live and have lived with it.  I have friends who have seen it first hand All I can say is you are wrong, and you might consider trying it before you start bad-mouthing the successful societal progress of your own nation.

Education

When national standards are eschewed, when choice is denied, when the achievement bar is lowered and expectations are softened, there is no deeper betrayal of progress.  Education is the future, education means progress - scientific, economic, social and otherwise. To focus on singing the praises of Obama instead of science and math and reading, is to degrade the hope of future generations standing on our shoulders and climbing ever higher.  That someone at some point thought pushing ebonics as a real way of education was ever anything other than stupid, is a real indictment of the supposed so called progressive agenda.

The left are evil geniuses when it comes to words - "pro-choice" and  "progressive" are specific examples.  I say we call them on it, every single time.  In this case, we should start calling them regressives, because it's what they are, and true words carry weight hopefully even more than does deception.