it is a matter of historical fact that the term "progressive" is associated with some of the most horrific crimes of systemic racism, conservative reactionaryism and hierarchical oppression in american history, and this idea of romanticizing it as an era of positive change is something that needs to be attacked head-on. it's a total whitewashing of history.

this was a period in american history where human rights were discarded as meaningless, and religious fundamentalism nearly drove the country into totalitarianism; it is a period where the country dodged a bullet, as it teetered on the brink of fascism.

progressive should be a bad word, something that people on the left distance themselves from, and not some way to disassociate yourself from corporatism. as an actual leftist, i see progressivism as a movement that exists on the right, and the word as interchangeable with conservatism.

some history of the progressive movement:

1) in america, it was progressives that were advocates of eugenics - not liberals or socialists. today, california continues to regularly sterilize people, with no opposition from progressives. leftists thoroughly oppose eugenics as pseudo-science.
https://fee.org/articles/the-progressive-ideas-that-fueled-america-s-eugenics-movement/

2) it was progressives that were the force behind the puritanical christian temperance movement, which it took decades to defeat. these were basically the rad fems of their era. leftists were and still are in diametric opposition to everything about this.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Woman%27s_Christian_Temperance_Union

3) it was progressives that were behind the tyrannical roosevelt corollary, and the colonialism of the roosevelt presidency, in general. leftists oppose colonialism.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roosevelt_Corollary

4) it was progressives that argued that anti-trust legislation is required to maintain competitive practices within the framework of free market capitalism. leftists refer to competition as "anarchy in production" and instead argue for planned economies, either centralized or decentralized.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clayton_Antitrust_Act_of_1914

progressives had a few good ideas, too. so did hitler. so did stalin.

but, progressivism needs to be defined by the policies that were legislated in the progressive era, and none of this is remotely left-wing, at all.

so, my claim is that progressives and conservatives are the same thing, and that leftists should reject the term progressive due to it's historical association with terrible legislative acts and backwards, repressive ideals. i can and will back my argument up with specific references, reasoned arguments and facts.

i guess you can react by calling me names, if you really want.