Dr. Martin Hash Podcast

Liberals are moderate libertarians & Progressives are moderate socialists; overlapping but coming from different directions, and because they sound the same on many issues, most people are unsure of the difference, but Liberals, as in “liberty,” put the individual before the group, personal accountability, rewards commensurate with effort, while Progressives place the group before the individual, often citing the “common good.” This, of course, has a paternalistic flavor of the we-know-better-n-you kind but, frankly, they do know-better-n-half the population, the incompetent half. Sometimes telling the difference between Liberals & Progressives is quite difficult because many people don't even know themselves: they call themselves “Progressives” because they don't like the connotations that the word “liberal” brings: you can thank Republicans for that.

The Democratic Party, at least in its platform, is not progressive nor socialist, but because we are a 2-Party system, there is no place else for Progressives to go. But it's an insidious, oil-and-water combination because socialism has the inherit problem of conflicting with the U.S. Constitution. As our society matures, it certainly accepts more and bigger socialistic manifestations. It's possible that eventually the individualism underpinnings of American society will be replaced by collectivism via fiat, because life, liberty & pursuit of happiness are relative.