I think it's funny how much faith people invest in the Office of the Presidency

[Erich Bloodaxe BSN]

6. You shall know them by their actions.

You won't know they're a progressive til they're in office. Any lefty can use progressive rhetoric to get in office. They'll have to actually get in and make changes (within the scope of their Constitutional powers) to show they're progressive. And fight constantly to get the public to bombard Congress with calls for change to our unjust social institutions, to raise up ALL Americans out of poverty, and to make America a force for positive, nonviolent change in the world.

Progressives work against the status quo. If they get into office and merely pop a bunch of Goldman Sachs alum onto their economic team? They're not progressive. If they continue the MIC perpetual war engine? Not progressive. Don't work to get rid of 'prison for profit' and the use of mercenaries by the government? Not progressive.

Now I'm sure any number of other posters will be more than happy to pull out definitions of 'progressive' from history or text books that disagree with how I see 'progressivism'. More power to them. But it doesn't change what I want to see from my leaders. If they want to say I want something other than a 'progressive', again, that's fine. Call it a 'megalumpaloo' for all I care.