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Progressive rhetoric, as used here, is the rhetoric of the Have-Nots who seek to change the "bad" (relief) and to get the "good" (acquisition). Progressive rhetoric is the rhetoric of dissatisfaction, discontent, and anger for not having the "good"; but, it is also the rhetoric of hopes, dreams, change, progress, and improvement. It not only attacks the existing evils, but also holds out hope for a better future. Progressive rhetoric stresses the problems of the existing order and criticizes the existing caretakers, especially for corruption (intentional) or incompetence (unintentional). Progressive rhetoric is generally the rhetoric of the Outs, the opposition, the protesters and the pickets, the people who are not in power. Progressive rhetoric ranges from reformers, Liberals who want to change or fix up parts of the existing system to revolutionaries, rebels who want to destroy it and replace it with a better one. Progressive rhetoric encourages the self-image of being a defender of the people (the average citizen, the poor, the weak, the needy.) Targeted to their own supporters, progressive rhetoric often suggests fears of stasis (of being stopped, stalled, thwarted), either suddenly (banned, controlled) or slowly (exhausted, burned out). It is reasonable to expect that people that people who have not a "good" will want to get it, or if they have a "bad" will want to get rid of it. Conservative and Progressive rhetoric, as I use the terms, describe situational relationships (between Haves & Have-Nots). I've used the term Progressive (a broader concept) rather than Liberal, which I believe suggests a degree of change sought: that is, a Liberal is a moderate Progressive wanting to change or fix an established system, not an extremist seeking to reject or destroy it. However, in Moral Politics, Professor George Lakoff uses the terms Conservative and Liberal based more on current common usage to describe a cluster of attitudes and worldviews. He emphasizes that people vote their values, as well as their self-interests. Such values are based on an unconscious, underlying "Society-as-Family" metaphoric worldview. For Liberals, it is that of the "Nurturing Parent " model. In 2005, Jimmy Carter, the 37th President of the United States, a liberal or progressive, criticized the conservative administration of George W. Bush, in a brief essay, "This isn't the real America." It's Always Time for a Change! In the 2008 campaign, almost every candidate -- Democrat and Republican -- advertised themselves as the agent of change!
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