The Main Difference Between Liberals and Progressives

The main difference between liberals and progressives is the economic system. Liberals uphold the economic system that Reagan and Thatcher implemented in the mid 70s through 80s. Prior to that, all first wold countries had mixed economies. Western Europe still has mixed economies. Both Germany and Portugal (the two countries I have lived in during the past year) call themselves welfare states. I also lived in South Africa for the first three months of 2021, and although it doesn't call itself a welfare state, it fits the parameters.

A description of a mixed economic system

A mixed economy is one where business is privately owned, but the state owns those services and industries which support citizens. Taxes are used to pay for these services and industries. An example from my early days in the UK and South Africa would be that train services were entirely owned by the State. This worked well in that taxes were used for capital expenses like building the trains while running expenses were paid by passengers. As no profit was involved, train fares were reasonably priced.

During the 50s and 60s, the telephone system was owned by the government, and because the state paid for infrastructure and upkeep was paid by fees for subscribing to the service, the phone service was cheap.

Depending on the country, governments owned and operated phones, trains, planes, steel, rubbish collection, medical services, education, the judicial system, libraries, the printing of educational books, electricity, and more. This meant that, even if people were born poor, they had equal access to the most vital services they would need to make a life for themselves.

All mixed economic systems also had a welfare system in place for those who, through circumstance or disability, had access to sufficient money to hold them over. Some paid better than others. Denmark pays well - Germany not so much. The UK has gone the way of the dodo.

A description of a neoliberal or laizzes-faire economic system

A neoliberal system maintains that government should not supply citizens with any services. All services should be provided by business owners. This, they said, would keep prices down, and it would ensure better services.

Subsequently, both the UK and the US sold off their services. Richard Branson bought train or two. The US also started privatizing. For example. the prison system in the US is almost entirely owned by business, and as such, they influence the government to put more and more people into prison. It is no coincidence that the US has the highest number of prisoners in the world. China, on the other hand, has very few prisoners. The USA has 639 prisoners per 100,000 people while China has 121 prisoners per 100,000 people.

Phone services, rail, planes, electricity, and hospitals have all become a means of profit to those who can afford to finance these services and products. Because they had to make a profit (the government didn't), salaries for employees went down, the price of the product or service went up, and the quality of service and product went down.

In both the UK and the US, educational debt by students is massive. The teaching, however, reaches nowhere near the standards they were prior to the 70s.

In neoliberalism, the government is kept to the minimum with less taxes paid by the ownership class, higher taxes paid by the working and middle classes, and opportunity becoming increasingly unequal for anyone not born into wealth.

The progressive stance vs the liberal stance

Progressivism had its start in the late 19th century in both the US and the UK. It was then that it was decided to cut working hours, provide pensions (social security) for seniors, provide everybody with an education, and subsidize essential basic services. This was the reason for the growing prosperity in the west. Everybody could have a good education, get treatment if they were ill, and pay for services like phone, electricity, and public transport. It was affordable for everybody.

The early-20th century concept of progressivism emerged from the vast social changes brought about by industrialization and the Second Industrial Revolution the late 19th century. Progressives took the view that progress was being stifled by vast economic inequality; minimally regulated monopolistic corporations; and the intense and often violent conflict between laborers and economic elites, arguing that measures were needed to address these problems. Source.

Political parties - when the left sold out

Business owners were extremely excited when Nobel prize winner, Milton Friedman, explained that taxes ought to be lowered, that business needed to take ownership of various government functions, and that there would be a dribble down effect, so that everybody would become prosperous.

As a result of this perspective being widely spread through the media, political parties on the left began to lose votes, and with it, power and influence. In order to prevent the leakage of voters - from the left to the right - a new idea was born. That idea was socially liberal but fiscally conservative. That was the new stance of parties on the left. Tony Blair (UK) and Bill Clinton (US) did a good job of promoting this view point. They would go along with the change in the economic system but would retain liberalism in social matters.

Unions, which were responsible for ensuring that workers received good compensation for their efforts, were hounded. Thatcher was particularly vicious in her efforts to shut down Unions.

Modern day progressives

Basically, everybody who was born after the babyboomers has been screwed out of equal opportunity - unless they were born to reasonably prosperous parents. The Millennials were the first generation to take the full brunt of neoliberalism.

Stuck with massive college debt, low salaries, unable to enter the housing market, high rents, they began to ask why their parents (baby boomers) were able to achieve what they did, and they couldn't. It didn't take long to discover that education cost very little, that minimum pay was a lot higher and bought a lot more, and that there were more services and assistance available to everybody at that time.

It also didn't take long to discover that baby boomers grew up in a mixed economy, and then, having achieved a fair degree of financial success as a result of all the freebies given to them, then took advantage of neoliberalism by paying lower taxes and buying up government assets at cheap prices.

For instance, in the UK, Margaret Thatcher began to sell off social housing. It wasn't the people who rented the social housing that bought them - they couldn't afford them. It was the rich. Rent control was removed so that rentiers could make more profit on old buildings, and soon it was virtually impossible to rent a reasonably priced apartment.

Some liberal ideas

1. All people should be able to marry, regardless of sexual orientation.
2. Nobody should have to suffer emotional pain as a result of someone else's belief's or actions.
3. Women should have equal rights and be paid a wage equal to that of men doing the same job.
4. Consensus should be reached by reasonable debate. Liberals are, therefore, willing to reason with unreasonable people.
5. The civil rights of the individual are more important than the collecctive health of the community.
6. Marches are an effective way of changing political polices.

Some progressive ideas

1. A minimum wage that provides people who have only one job enough to cover food and rent. This minimum wage must be linked to inflation so that companies cannot increase prices in order to compensate for increased wages.
2. Free medical care for all. When people are unable to pay for necessary medical care, it means that they either die or life in a state of ill health. There is the claim that civilized values would deem available health care as a human right.
3. Free education is vital to a peaceful world. Educated people make wise decisions and provide good skills. To put things into perspective, the American education budget a few years ago was $69 billion for 100% of the population while the prison budget was $49 billion for .7% of the population.
4. Progressivism calls for a Universal Basic Income in order to alleviate poverty and prevent revolution as soft robotics and Artificial Intelligence remove half the jobs within our lifetimes.
5. Progressivism calls for putting the survival of a people-friendly environment before the profit-making of companies. Climate change is a huge concern.
6. Workers should work less hours as the current working hours are too long for mental and physical health.

Summary

To summarize, the major difference between liberals and progressives is a belief in a differing economic system. Progressives in the United States wish to have the same economic system that was active in the 50s and 60s in the US, and which is still active in western and northern Europe.

Liberals fear a return to this economic system because it would mean a return to the high taxes of the era - somewhere around 90%.