Liberal or progressive?

[LWolf]

36. Other.

And this poll demonstrates why.

There is not an agreed upon definition of "liberal" and "progressive." Both terms carry too much baggage, and their multiple connotations are contradictory.

Despite the way the mainstream uses "progressive," as "extremely liberal," to be progressive simply means to support moving forward on issues. It doesn't determine the direction of that movement or what direction "forward" might be.

Then there is the connection to the "progressive era," which indicates political activism and reform to remove corruption from government, the labor movement, etc.. That's a noble label adopted by a less than noble political group. The neoliberal DLC's think tank is the "progressive policy institute." Knowing that, I can't call myself a progressive.

That moves us on to "liberal." That term has quite different meanings depending on whether it is being applied to economic or social policy. Liberal economic policy, as espoused by today's neo-liberals, is bad for the 99%. Liberal social policies, on the other hand, are supposed to benefit that 99%. The two don't work together.

The current takeover of the Democratic Party by neo-liberals, while trying to maintain a surface pretense of social responsibility, has corrupted the term liberal, at least for me.

I'll call my self a left libertarian, per the political compass. Economically left. Socially more libertarian; not as described by the "libertarian party," but as the other end from authoritarianism.