"Incremental change" is a Third Way lie.

[pa28]

30. Unfortunately, banks, corporations and wealthy individuals aren't "pragmatic incrementalists".

No, they want to take everything and they want to take it now.

Incrementalists will point to modest provisions like Dodd-Frank (which has already been partially reversed by a Democratic congress and signed by president Obama) as an example of pragmatic incrementalism making positive change of a long historical arc. They'll tell you we're moving in the right direction.

Too bad those modest but hard won gains can be stripped away with a trade agreement like the TPP. If they don't think that can happen they should study how banks used the WTO agreement as an instrument to globally strip capital controls of the type contained in glass-steagall from signatories around the world including the US. That represented years of hard won regulation and majorities in congress wiped out with the stroke of a pen.

http://www.gregpalast.com/larry-summers-and-the-secret-end-game-memo/

So, I guess I'm in agreement with you on the concept of "incrementalism". It might still work with social issues but the next time a sensible third wayer scolds you with their bony little finger about the need to be "incremental" on an issue of tax, trade, or regulation I'd take it with a massive grain of salt.

We're facing an onslaught and baby steps only serve to slow the rate of loss. Not advance the public interest.