Whither Progress?

George Carlin once famously said, “words mean things.” Yep. But today, words can also be co-opted, where their original meanings are subverted, and new meanings assigned, thus changing it’s use and significance. 

Take the word “progress” and its derivatives. 

I, personally, believe that if “pro” is the opposite of “con,” then it’s logical and reasonable to define “progress” as the opposite of “Congress.” Progress is supposed to denote change for the better. But while progress requires change, not all change requires progress.

Now let’s look at the word “progressive.” When things are progressive, we are lead to believe that the policy associated with the word is beneficial, desireable, and even enlightened. Now let’s look at how the word is used, and what it means within a specific context. 

We have a progressive tax policy. Sounds good, doesn’t it. It’s almost like saying “our tax policy is progressive…and your’s isn’t…so our tax policy is better than yours.” Um…not so fast, bucko. In this context, progressive means that the more money you make, the higher percentage of your income are taken by taxes. That means if you earn $30,000 a year, you’ll pay less than 20% of your salary in Federal taxes. If you earn $200,000, you’ll pay close to 40% of your income to the IRS. If everyone paid the same percentage of their income, the “rich” would still pay significantly more than the “poor” or “middle class” (however you define these labels). That would be a lot more fair than picking on someone just because they’ve been successful. (Just ask Joe the Plumber). 

Liberals, once they discovered that the very word “liberal” had acquired a negative connotation, began calling themselves progressives. They want everyone to think that their policies are more enlightened and beneficial. Depending on your perception – and your politics – this is as big a distortion as were terms like “detente,” “glasnost” and “fellow traveler.” 

Even the corporate world is getting in on the double-secret code word shenanigans. You’ve probably heard of Progressive Insurance. Did you know that they are not just “progressive” in their business, but in their politics? Progressive Insurance and their CEO has given huge sums of money to Obama and Liberal causes, including a cash bailout for failed liberal radio network, Air America. 

I, for one, am getting fed up with liberals co-opting useful words. Let’s take a look at a representative list of words that once meant one thing, and now mean quite another:

I don’t know about you, but I want my language back.