General Discussion

TNNurse

(6,929 posts) Wed Jul 27, 2016, 03:20 PM Jul 2016

I need some clarification.

I was listening to "To the Point" on NPR this afternoon. Just what is the difference between a Progressive and a Liberal. I have always thought of myself as liberal and by that pretty progressive. The discussion kept them separate.

What are the distinctions?

6 replies

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I need some clarification. (Original Post) TNNurse Jul 2016 OP

Bragging rights BooScout Jul 2016 #1

Exactly! MichiganVote Jul 2016 #6

IMHO people adopted Progressive after republican noise machine made Liberal a dirty word. emulatorloo Jul 2016 #2

Message auto-removed Name removed Jul 2016 #3

Of course. Roots in Progressive Era. Nice tribute to Teddy Roosevelt emulatorloo Jul 2016 #4

My inference of their current usage is... LanternWaste Jul 2016 #5

BooScout

(10,406 posts)

1. Bragging rights

Reply to TNNurse (Original post)

Wed Jul 27, 2016, 03:21 PM

Jul 2016

MichiganVote

(21,086 posts)

6. Exactly!

Reply to BooScout (Reply #1)

Wed Jul 27, 2016, 03:54 PM

Jul 2016

emulatorloo

(44,175 posts)

2. IMHO people adopted Progressive after republican noise machine made Liberal a dirty word.

Reply to TNNurse (Original post)

Wed Jul 27, 2016, 03:27 PM

Jul 2016

That's oversimplifying of course.

Response to emulatorloo (Reply #2)

Name removed Message auto-removed

emulatorloo

(44,175 posts)

4. Of course. Roots in Progressive Era. Nice tribute to Teddy Roosevelt

Reply to Name removed (Reply #3)

Wed Jul 27, 2016, 03:44 PM

Jul 2016

LanternWaste

(37,748 posts)

5. My inference of their current usage is...

Reply to TNNurse (Original post)

Wed Jul 27, 2016, 03:53 PM

Jul 2016

My inference of their current usage is that traditional liberals are those who focus on using taxpayer money to help better society. A “progressive” are those who focus on using government power to make large institutions play by a set of rules (meaning one may be one, or the other or both-- as there would be much overlap given any one specific policy).

There are however, distinct classical definitions used by authors and academics, but these have been overshadowed by online discussions who use them (as they do neo-con, neo-lib, etc) as a simplistic label for "you share/do not share my opinion"

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