Progressive or Liberal?

My local paper carried a column today about how many Democrats are calling themselves Progressives instead of Liberal. The common wisdom is that the two terms are the same but Republicans have poisoned the term Liberal. I disagree.

For years I've seen people on the left refer to progressive values and they are not the same as classical liberalism. Progressives are much more influenced by folk-Marxism.

Back in the 1970s when I was deciding which side really appealed to me I saw things in both the Democratic and Republican parties that were appealing. In short, I preferred the Democrats' hands-off social policies and the Republicans' fiscal policy.

Then Jimmy Carter messed everything up so bad that the Republicans were the only real choice.

The things I admired in the Democrats are long gone. The Progressives have taken over. Here are some examples:

Classical liberals stood for freedom of expression - "I may not agree with what you say but I will defend to the death your right to say it." Progressive are for outlawing an ever-expanding definition of "hate speech".

Classical liberals said that you should be judged by your abilities, not your race. Progressives only care about racial quotas.

The goal of Progressives is to insert government into every corner of life in order to control it in the hope of making it better. Classical Liberals would have called that fascism.

Just look at the presidential candidates. They all have some sort of health care proposal. Some of them (Obama) simply propose making it illegal to be uninsured. A young person with little risk of major illness might disagree with this but the government knows best.

Last week the Senate passed a measure requiring a 40% increase in fuel economy. This will outlaw SUVs and raise the price of all other vehicles. It might very well put Ford and GM out of business. It will not produce the type of cars that people want to drive.Again, the government knows best.

The funny thing about Progressives - they never spell out where they are going, just that they are making "progress".