Why Progressivism Isn’t New (And You Should Stop Treating It Like It Is)

Before I get any of the haters here claiming that I’m stomping out their moment, realize that I’m very far to the left ideologically. I just happen to be much more practical about what I can do to make things happen.

This word is irritating. Progressive has become a buzzword this election season. Progressive can be defined as moving forward. Progressive does not necessarily embody a simple list of actions and policies one should commit to. Progressive should not mean a person that fits a specific definition of what a person has done or ought to do for the people at large. Progressive means different things to different groups of people and will always mean that. Someone will always be chastised as not being progressive enough or being too progressive.

We as a people should recognize that there are people who have been politically aware and active for a long time and those folks may define progressivism as something entirely different than we do in the status quo. These folks who have been active during some of the most volatile times may also have differently informed perspective when it comes to how they view the world as it is.

For those just getting started, progressive will mean something different. Those that are new are going to be moving things forward at a different point on the timeline. Newbies are going to also come from a differently informed perspective.

One of the first problems I noticed is the all too common lack of understanding or immediate bewilderment when someone isn’t matching up with what they are defining a progressive as. It might just be that the word itself has no inherent meaning or defining characteristics of what that the noun it’s describing ought to be. If there were such an inherency tied to the word, we wouldn’t have insurance companies named after it. Most of the meaning

What I have noticed is many, many groups of people using the word to define their flavor of progressivism, often leaving others out that do not fit. Then you get people flinging accusations of creating a purity test, etc. which just gets downright absurd.

We all should begin by understanding at which point someone started progressing on an issue. Even if we started at different points on the timeline, there is no reason why we can’t see where someone else had started defining themselves as a progressive. This can only lead to a greater understanding of why someone may not see eye to eye with how we are trying to move forward on issues.

When we get to that point where we realize that maybe we are on the same side of the coin after all, the dialogue may be much more productive. We should realize that may be attacking others for either not being enough of something or being too much of something can really hinder what we aim to move forward on.

So yes, progressivism is not new. Moving forward is not new. Advancing ideas that encourage more progress than regressive anything is not new. It’s time to acknowledge that maybe instead of alienating one another and dividing each other over semantics, we all can move together and fight for what is right.