Why Progressive Living?

A much better world.

And the good news is that, to some degree at least, there's no need to wait for someone else to create a better world for you.  Our job here at Progressive Living is to provide you with some very exciting resources that will help you to live a better life—and that will also help you to build a better world.

If enough other people do the same thing, change can happen rapidly.  And that's what's so exciting about the other bit of good news: more and more people — millions of people — are ready, willing, and able to make the kind of changes that are needed.  All they need is a little information.  With good information in hand, we can light a lot more candles, and do a whole lot less cursing.

Change can take many forms, of course.  Many people focus on politics, and that's certainly worthwhile, commendable, and indeed essential.  But in addition to political change, other fundamental changes are also possible, and can be brought about by a single person, or a single person with just a few friends.  Changes of this kind can take the form of institutional changes, and should take this form when existing institutions no longer function in the best interest of American citizens.  (For example, most American financial institutions actually operate in direct opposition to the best economic interests of Americans.)

Fortunately, alternatives to these and other institutions already exist, have already been tremendously successful, and can be implemented in your community—by you and your friends.  This requires some initiative, determination, and persistence, but all human beings possess these characteristics to a greater or lesser degree.  It also requires some clear thinking about strategy and tactics.  Miracles or vast sums of cash, however, are not required.

Other change must often precede political and institutional changes.  Change of this kind involves a change of understanding.  This has been made difficult in America by a mass media that frequently colludes with the some of the worst elements in our society, and so actively opposes any change of understanding.  (Until very recently, for example, a clear understanding of global warming was obstructed by almost the entirety of the corporate mass media.)  All effective action is preceded by clear thinking about the nature of our problems.

Yet sometimes even more fundamental change is needed.  Perhaps the most fundamental requirement of living a better life, and of building a better world is true clarity concerning values. When values play their proper role, they're like a compass that serves to guide us in the major and minor decisions that face us as we go through life. Values help us decide how to act by reminding us of what's most important; and our values also help us to understand when and why political change, and changes in our institutions are needed.

The best of all scenarios is when we have a clear understanding of our values, and we work to see those values realized through our political system and through our social institutions, so that they become instruments for advancement, instead of instruments of exploitation.  Americans did just that during the period known, appropriately, as the Progressive Era.

Unfortunately, America today is not functioning as it should.  Instead of advancing American values, many of our institutions have instead grown corrupt.  Indeed, rather than serving as a compass, values are being cynically exploited by the Bush administration and others as a means of retaining political power.  This has led Americans to become polarized where a tiny handful of issues are concerned. Yet despite this, nearly all working Americans still share the same fundamental values. We think it's time to get past this carefully manufactured polarization to consider the real causes of the current crisis of values in American society. These causes are nothing new. Historians have found them in operation in every world power: they amount to the arrogance and greed of a tiny elite that rules in its own economic interests, never mind the human cost.

Because most of those who wield power today have abandoned principle, we think most Americans, whether liberal or conservative, are poorly served by their current system of governance. Placing the economic gain of a few first and people and the values most try to live by last is deeply faulty prioritizing. It is this that has created, as it must, an elitist and deeply anti-democratic culture of corporate corruption that is slowly destroying our society. Beyond the borders of our own society, it's also contributing substantially to human misery worldwide.

Surely, this is a catastrophe.

Nothing worse can happen to a civilization than for it to cease to function in light of its highest values, for it can then function only hypocritically in light of its vices. The cure for catastrophe must be to regain clarity concerning our shared values, and for ordinary Americans to insist that those values find application in all of the institutions of our society. That's why everything that you'll find at Progressive Living is presented in light of the set of values that, after many years of reading and reflection, we think make the most sense and are most true to the spirit of democracy. To be more specific, when we discuss politics and civic responsibility, our point of view will be rooted in what is usually called Progressivism; and when the issues are more philosophical, our point of view will reflect the value system known as Humanism. If you don't know what those words mean, don't worry. It will become clearer as we go along. Or go ahead and have a look at the links here now, if you'd like.

Almost a century ago, in the events leading up to the economic crash of 1929, Americans found themselves in a similar state of political, economic, and moral crisis. As we noted above, the highly successful solution to that crisis, for social conservatives and social liberals alike, was Progressivism. But to restore Progressive governance will require considerable change.

Which brings us back to where we started.  If you happen to be so inclined, we'll tell you how you can help effect that change. You'll find critiques of the media, government, corporations, and society here — but not just for the sake of criticism; rather, we hope to do something to bring about a consensus, so as to lay the groundwork for reforms. Indeed, we provide a roadmap to an alternative form of governance. There are also many resources pertaining to values, everything from philosophy to world religion. Resources pertaining to Progressivism and Humanism are here too. Eventually, you'll also find information, tools, and advice that will cover the whole span of life, from childbirth to death, as well as proposed reforms for virtually all social institutions, all in a humanistic perspective. This reflects our belief that perhaps the best way to begin to change the world is to live one's own life ethically. 

For each topic that we present, whatever it may be, we'll try to provide a concise overview of the content in clear language, and then point the way to the best available resources for greater detail. In many cases you'll find that the resource is a book. We've tried to pick out the most authoritative, definitive, and readable books available on any given topic; but if we've missed one, we'd like to know. We'll credit any suggestions that are used. Beyond this, we hope to help you cultivate communities, virtual and concrete, with people who share your values.

To get a better sense of the site content, you can proceed to the site map.  Or, to better understand how all of the individual pieces of site content fit together, you can go to a diagram that lays out the overall site architecture (be sure to hover your cursor over each section of the diagram).   Although each individual piece of content has been written to stand on its own, we recommend that new visitors to the site have a look at both the site map and the site architecture.

Thanks again for visiting!

The Editors,
Progressive Living