This is the second part of a series.  You can find the first part here.

There are probably as many different definitions of progressive as there are Senators who'd like to be president.  In spite of the fact that bloggers, intellectuals, and politicians all declaring themselves to be progressive, there doesn't seem to be a common definition of what it means to be a progressive.  This leaves progressives open for the criticism that "progressive" is just another word for "liberal".  If a progressive movement is to last, we must define ourselves to voters before Conservatives do.

There's more...

There are probably as many different definitions of progressive as there are Senators who'd like to be president.  In spite of the fact that bloggers, intellectuals, and politicians all declaring themselves to be progressive, there doesn't seem to be a common definition of what it means to be a progressive.  This leaves progressives open for the criticism that "progressive" is just another word for "liberal".  If a progressive movement is to last, we must define ourselves to voters before Conservatives do.

Importance:
Why is it important to define ourselves? There are several reasons.  One, I just mentioned.  If Americans don't learn from us what a progressive is, they'll learn it from a conservative.  If that happens Democrats will start dodging the work "progressive" like they do "liberal".  If people think of progressives mostly in a positive light, then Politians will embrace it.  The goal of which is so that politicians start arguing who is more "progressive" in democratic primaries.  The way Republicans argue who is more will argue who is more "progressive" in Democratic primaries the way Republicans argure who is more "conservative" in theirs.  This would be an infinite improvement over the "liberal" label where politicians don't even put the word anywhere on their campaign's website.

Another reason is that we can help make Democratic politicians lives easier.  When someone asks why they're a Democrat or what they believe in they can parrot the same talking point.  I'm a Democrat because 'X'.  Right now Conservatives have us beat on this aspect.  Ask a Conservative why he's a Conservative and he'll say either "I'm a Conservative because I believe in free markets with limited government" or "I believe in family values" or some variation on those 2 themes.  Ask a Democrat why they're a Democrat(or progressive or liberal) and see how many wildly different answers.  If you don't believe me, Google the following "Why I'm a Democrat" and compare that with "Why I'm a Republican".  Switch out the words with Conservative and Liberal and Progressive and you'll see that RepublicanConservatism is well defined in the minds of it's supporters.

One thing to understand when defining progressivism is not to define it by issues.  It needs to be defined as a philosophy.  If you define progressivism as a group of issues it does not convey conviction.  For instance if you say progressives believe in raising the minimum wage, fair trade, and Universal Healthcare and somebody asks, "why" your only answer would be "um... because".  You have to have a reason that you support different issues.  Even if your underlying philosophy is the "Vulcan philosophy" that The needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few at least you can answer, "I support Universal Healthcare because the needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few".

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The following axioms make up my "progressive" philosophy. Thought I'll put it up, and seek opinions on it.

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