The rectification of names: progressive

The American Thinker ^ | Nov. 23 | Thomas Lifson

[Kitten Festival]

[Editor’s Note: The American Thinker believes in calling things by their proper names. Euphemism is a tool of misrepresentation and ultimately of control, stripping away accurate and evocative connotations, and substituting false associations. ....]

The word “liberal” has a bad odor to it these days, a situation which the American left blames on conservatives, accusing them of “demonizing” it in the public mind. From their perspective, the average citizen is incapable of coming to an independent judgment, having observed decades of failed liberal policies. Instead, it must be evil conservatives who have propagandized the public into believing American liberalism is a failed ideology. The liberals’ underlying contempt for the ability of the ordinary man and woman to understand reality and make meaningful choices is once again revealed.

Liberals are not exactly pragmatists, but they have discovered that burnishing the liberal label is a lost cause. So they have adopted a new brand name for their politics, “progressivism.” A large insurance company ... is named Progressive, so the label is already supported by a fair amount of advertising aimed at generating a friendly image. Probably, this is a coincidence. But the fact is that most people have not given much thought as to the real meaning of the term progressive.

[Kitten Festival]

Important and interesting essay on leftwing scum expropriating our language. They do it so often and need to be stopped.