NEWSPEAK: "Progressive"

ORIGINAL MEANING: The idea of moving forward

NEW MEANING: One who wants to move the country towards state socialism.

While you would think that a progressive politician wants to move the country forward, it has come to mean the opposite: promotion of more government taxation, more intervention and centralization of power, which ultimately lead to economic collapse.

Support for ever higher taxes and more government expenditures is progressive. Support for tax cuts and spending limits is regressive.

A hankering after more regulation of an already overburdened economy is progressive. Those who view the market as a self-regulating mechanism, as well as the great engine of prosperity, are clearly regressive.

Those who believe government should reward improvidence are progressive. Proponents of individual responsibility and merit are regressive.

Enough of such progress, and we'll be back in caves, wearing animal skins and scratching at flea-bites.