Liberals and Progressives.

[eric922]

I'm just curious, what do you all think the difference between the two groups are, or is there none in your view? I, personally think of progressives as more left wing than liberals, but that is just me.

[Viet Minh]

They're not absolute definitions, Liberal is used as a term of slander more often than not, by the far left to suggest some pseudo-leftist bourgeousie, to the right wing its synonymous with generally more socialist ideals like anti-racism, womens rights, etc. Progressive is the opposite of Conservative, so the latter want to preserve the status quo or return it to some imagined glorious past, and the Progressives want to make positive reforms, which I guess puts them in the camp of Liberalism.

[khad]

Progressive is such a loose term these days. It doesn't really have all that much meaning except as another word that the broad left throws around to describe itself. It's usually used by left types (even Noam Chomsky) to describe themselves since "liberal" became a slur used by the right wing during the Clinton years. "Progressive" as a self-ascribed label basically runs the gamut from Left Democrat to most parts of the radical left. Muddying the issue are mainstream democrats who react with being labeled liberal by declaring that they are "Progressive" in the "American" tradition.

Historically, Progressive has meant something quite distinct from the left-right political spectrum. The Progressive movement at the end of the 19th century was a middle class professional movement that was geared at improving the efficiency of the regulatory mechanisms of the government. The original Progressives were a mixed bunch, politically. This is why you had quasi-socialist types like Jane Addams, Imperialist warfighters like Teddy Roosevelt, eugenicists like Margaret Sanger, and crypto-klansmen like Woodrow Wilson all under the umbrella category of "Progressive."

If you really wanted to put "Progressive" on a political spectrum, progressivism should be classified primarily by its approach to organization, which is traditionally opposed to American Populism.

[RGacky3]

Progresssive generally refers to economically left,

Liberal means liberal on social issues (but sometimes the use it to include economicly left on issues).

[Demogorgon]

The terms mean different things from country to country. In most European countries (and Australia) for instance, liberal means "right wing", often more so than Christian Democrats. There Liberalism and Progressivism are obviously completely different.

In other words both words depend on context. I've found incidentally that calling myself a "progressive" works quite well in certain situations because the word has positive connotations.

[Viet Minh]

The terms mean different things from country to country. In most European countries (and Australia) for instance, liberal means "right wing", often more so than Christian Democrats. There Liberalism and Progressivism are obviously completely different.

I've heard that before once but generally I find its applied to the center-left.


In other words both words depend on context. I've found incidentally that calling myself a "progressive" works quite well in certain situations because the word has positive connotations


Progressive is a nice term, its suggestive of positive reform which I am in favour of. 'Conservative' can be a misnomer, because if the system is already quite progressive the right wing don't usually want to 'conserve' that, they usually want to return to a previous state of affairs. So I prefer the term regressive. I dislike the terms left and right for a number of reasons, though I use them out of convenience. Its too linear to truly describe a political spectrum though.

[Dimmu]

This distinction is exist only in the USA. In Europe people gladly call themselves as "liberals", while in the USA its a swear.

[RGacky3]

because if the system is already quite progressive

According to what Standard? Definately not the rest of the industrialized world.

[Viet Minh]

According to what Standard? Definately not the rest of the industrialized world.

I'll rephrase that, relatively progressive. Given the opportunity the more right wing conservatives would rescind anti-discrimination laws, anti-racist laws, womens rights, abortion laws, gay rights, the welfare state, state funded education.

[Tim Finnegan]

All progressives are liberals, and so are most so-called "conservatives". Liberalism is a broad ideological category, so broad that many of its inhabitants don't actually realise that they're sharing the same fundamental ideological space, in part because it currently plays a hegemonic role in world affairs and so is very frequently only visible from the outside. As such, "liberal" only tends to offer meaning when used in a relatively narrow sense ("socially liberal", "economically liberal", etc.) or to distinguish fundamentally liberal entities or ideological currents from non-liberal (socialist, conservative, fascist, etc.) ones.