When did "progressive" become a bad word? Just a thought...

Merriam-Webster defines PROGRESSIVE as:

1. of, relating to, or characterized by progress; making use of or interested in new ideas, findings, or opportunities; of, relating to, or constituting an educational theory marked by emphasis on the individual child, informality of classroom procedure, and encouragement of self-expression.
2. of, relating to, or characterized by progression
3. moving forward or onward : advancing

Our founding fathers were progressives leading us from the tyranny of King George. Progressives gave us freedom of speech, democracy, abolished slavery, and gave women the right to vote and be treated as something other than a possession of their husband.  

Progressives replaced superstition with science and gave us penicillin, MRI machines and even our current form of socialized medicine - Medicare. Progressives taught us that men could fly, sent men to the moon and unfortunately that Pluto is not a planet.

Abraham Lincoln said "What is conservatism? Is it not adherence to the old and tried, against the new and untried?"

I don't claim to have all of the answers, or even some of them, however I think that the old and tried have not been working for a while. If we do nothing but scream at each other rather than enter into a civil discourse on how to change things, we continue to do the old and tried and continue to fail as a country.

Regardless of your party or religious affiliation, it matters not if you label yourself conservative or liberal, we are all Americans and need to work together for a solution to what ails us.