this post was submitted on 03 Sep 2025
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I've settled on the word "progressive" as being the best general word for this.
The problem is that, outside of politics, "liberal" is the opposite of "conservative". "Add a liberal amount of mayonnaise," means "err on the side of too much", while "Add a conservative amount of mayonnaise," means "err on the side of too little".
But in politics, sometimes, "liberal" literally means "conservative". Especially in Europe, it is associated with free market capitalism. But in America, it is not generally associated with it.
On the other hand, the meaning of "progressive" is basically the same everywhere, political or otherwise, and it has a common-sense opposite meaning from conservative, unlike "left".
Yeah, even in Canada our Liberal party is just centrist. The only times they actually enact anything progressive is when our left wing party (NDP) push them to
That is across the west, the non-conservative parties have all been taken over by conservatives. Better than the other guy is generally their only selling point. Which has allowed the conservative parties to become rabidly extreme and still win elections. These European countries still think they are immune even while fascism is on their doorstep gaining voteshare every election as they refuse to offer any reform.
Ok here’s what annoys me. People who CALL themselves liberals think they’re on the same side leftists in North America, but the politicians do not have these delusions. If you’re a liberal or a democrat in actual politics, you are for free market capitalism.
Did you ever consider that people don't always fully align with any of these terms but feel compelled to use them anyway because it would take too long to explain their entire worldview repeatedly?
WHAT IS THIS NUANCE???
Only on Lemmy do I see such petty debate over liberal vs leftist vs progressive.
In the US, where we really only have two parties, are democrats really just centrists? Yes. But on a spectrum where you only have one dimension, the above terms all generally mean the same thing.
Progressive is for the here and now.
Socialism, or just leftism in general, is the end goal.
I tell my friends and family that I'm a progressive. Online, I call myself a socialist.
At least in the US, you're doing your advocacy right.
Also, the opposite of "progressive" is "regressive," which does accurately describe the opposing political force.