The definition of "progressive" must have been revised ...

[HassleCat]

39. There seem to be two definitions now.

The traditional notion of "progressive" relates to the Progressive movement of the late 1800s and early 1900s. The important feature of the Progressive movement was that it used the power of government to give the ordinary citizen a chance against the monopolies, the banks, the railroads, and other powerful institutions. They set up credit unions, supported organized labor, and defended small farmers against bank foreclosures. This is the basic motivation running through a variety of liberal and progressive ideas such as consumer protection, trust busting, whistle blower protection, employment discrimination law, etc.

The new definition of "progressive" appears to involve little more than being able to show some sort of "progress" in some direction. As long as you're doing something, going somewhere, you get to say, "I'm a progressive!" I guess this is OK, if our primary concern is to avoid excluding anyone.