Progressive Vs Liberal, did fear cause the name change?

[DennisReveni]

I just realized that a number of liberals are now claiming to be progressives. Almost as if liberal really is a dirty word.
If people are changing the way they identify themselves, then the right has won. They have forced the majority away from the word "liberal" into terms such as "left" and "progressive".
The ideological fight is not for some waffling center, but for the youth who don't vote and have liberal leanings. Being weak here, makes one even weaker in the future.
Liberal is cool. Progressive is Clinton not inhaling. And left is Paul Begala.
I for one am proud to be a liberal. I hope my children and their children embrace a liberal way of thinking and defining themselves.

[Maat]

1. I'm proud to be a liberal too. Liberal Democrat.

[MadProphetMargin]

2. Liberal as hell, here. No shame, no fear. And another thing: I'm

SICK TO DEATH of liberals apologizing for being liberals.

Jefferson was a liberal.
Franklin was a liberal.
Madison was a liberal.

WTF is to be ashamed of?

[yardwork]

3. I'm a LIBERAL

Liberal liberal liberal.

And proud of it!

[Eric J in MN]

4. I'm a liberal (nt)

nt

[QC]

5. Nice straw man there.

Why even make a pretense of asking a question when you clearly have your answer already? Those of us who call ourselves progressives are obviously cowards, unlike you brave, noble souls who proudly proclaim your liberalism.

To repeat some points that many of us have made here before, there are those of us who prefer the term "progressive" because it is seems to us more blue-collar and left than "liberal," which seems to us more bourgeois and genteel. Think of it as Howard Zinn vs. Michael Dukakis. Labor organizing vs. discussing Mumia over latté. Changing the system vs. polishing off a few of the rough edges.

So yes, there are reasons other than cowardice why some of us are not willing to let you decide what we should call ourselves.

[MadProphetMargin]

6. Um, I'm as blue-collar as it gets, and I'm a "LIBERAL".

One liberal millwright here.

[gristy]

7. I used google to try to find some definitions of these two words

http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&lr=&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&q=progressive+liberal+definition&btnG=Google+Search

143,000 hits! Forget it.

[5thGenDemocrat]

8. I am a liberal

When I hear "progressive," I think of Hazen Pingree, Tom Johnson, Bob LaFollette -- 19th/early 20th century guys like that.
I consider myself an LBJ liberal -- strong military, strong civil rights, healthy environment, help to the needy -- not the greedy. Stuff like that.
John
But I don't think the kids today would much care for LBJ. All of us here have our jobs to do before November and mine is to get my 35- to 60-year -old buddies to the polls to vote Democratic. I'll let the youngsters worry about the youngsters.

[Stargleamer]

9. These words have an interesting history...

From what I can recall, it seems that early in the 1900s--up until the New Deal--liberals did refer to themselves as progressives. For example, Robert LaFollette. But FDR, from what I recall, preferred the term, 'liberal', so a switch started to occur among New Dealers. I think 'liberal' was then en vogue until the 1980's, when conservatives achieved a lot of success in making the word pejorative. As a result, nowadays we seem to have reverted back to 'progressive'.

[pop goes the weasel]

10. "liberal" is virtually meaningless

in the US. To be liberal is to be a supporter of free markets and republican government. You can get a feel for just how meaningless the term is when you consider that a "neo-con" and a "neo-liberal" are the same thing. Historically, Alexander Hamilton was a liberal, Napolean was a liberal, and Porfirio Diaz was a liberal. Obviously, there's a lot of room within that term.

"Progressivism" is a term that implies a reformist attitude toward social problems. Liberal progressives, who wish to attempt social reform, are, in the US, the opposing force to conservatives, who also champion a liberal economy and republic but don't believe government should play a role in social reform, or indeed that there should be real attempts at social reform.

I don't consider myself a liberal because I have anarcho-syndicalist tendencies, but I do consider myself a progressive because I believe in social reform. So, I'm not being a coward for not claiming the title "liberal"; I'm being honest.