It’s impossible to speak about progress without addressing retrogression.  Just because someone says progress or progressive doesn’t mean what they prescribe leads to improvement.  The changing of definitions are to gain popular support, and confuse you to make it easier to condition you.  What’s labeled as progress is often pseudo-scientific nonsense that’ll regress us to barbarism.

Reason will rein supreme if these are thought about.  However, logic can be fought with logic, but illogic can’t be fought with logic.  The self-styled progressives don’t want a continuous improvement.  They want to win a popularity contest.  Nothing is perfect and setbacks are inevitable.  It would be a permanent setback if their prescriptions were followed.  The label is for the thought deprived and it’s intellectual poison.

It’s certain men will make errors.  Belief that the voting masses will be right is absurd as believing the divine right of kings.  Errors are more likely as bad as education is.  As Mencken astutely pointed out, “Democracy is a pathetic belief in the collective wisdom of individual ignorance.  No one…has ever lost money by underestimating the intelligence of the great masses of the plain people.  Nor has anyone ever lost public office thereby.”

Sure, the majority of people want more than less.  That doesn’t mean voting for people who claim to want more will lead to more.  They might call for a higher standard of living, but with a poor education you won’t be able to critically analyze these statements.  You are free to decide what will be better for you.  There is a mental coercion.  You might think you’re free, but your thinking and actions are directed by another.

The terms are completely nonsensical when viewed with their corollary.  The so-called progressive policies lead to de-civilization and barbarism.  A higher standard of living can only come about if your thought and actions are free from coercion.  We all might have various ends we are trying to achieve.  The “progressives” only have their ends in mind.  That is getting elected to office.

Reference

Ludwig von Mises; Human Action