You knowledge of the background for the word may be miles ahead of mine, and your point may be sound as can be. The problem (as I see it) is that the general public will see no further than the positive aspects of the word “Progressive”. “Oh, they’re progressive. Wow, I like that...”
There is a reason Progressives have called themselves liberals and tried to hide from the word Progressive.
If you call them liberals the politically naive may research that and find the source of the term with the Founders when it meant something quite different. If the politically naive investigate the term Progressive it will lead back to its source in the rise of communism in the late 19th century.
For those who accept things blindly there are no means to educate them and its pointless to worry about it.