TDT: The Progressives

 

Source:Wikipedia- Governor Nelson Rockefeller (Republican, New York) one of the last of the Progressive Republicans.

"The Rockefeller Republicans, also called Moderate[3] or Liberal Republicans, were members of the Republican Party (GOP) in the 1930s–1970s who held moderate to liberal views on domestic issues, similar to those of Nelson Rockefeller, Governor of New York (1959–1973) and Vice President of the United States (1974–1977). Rockefeller Republicans were most common in the Northeast and the West Coast with their larger liberal constituencies while they were rare in the South and Midwest.[4]

In its current usage, the term refers to "[a] member of the Republican Party holding views likened to those of Nelson Rockefeller; a moderate or liberal Republican".[5] However Geoffrey Kabaservice states that they were part of a separate political ideology, aligning on certain issues and policies with liberals, while on others with conservatives and on many with neither.[nb 1] Luke Phillips has also stated that the Rockefeller Republicans represent the continuation of the Whig tradition of American politics.[2] They often saw themselves as champions of "good government", contrasting themselves to the often corrupt machine politics of the Democratic Party, particularly in large cities.[citation needed]

Rockefeller Republicanism has been described as the last phase of the "Eastern Establishment" of the GOP which had been led by New York governor Thomas E. Dewey. The group's powerful role in the GOP came under heavy attack during the 1964 primary campaign between Rockefeller and Barry Goldwater. At a discouraging point before the California primary, political operative Stuart Spencer called on Rockefeller to "summon that fabled nexus of money, influence, and condescension known as the Eastern Establishment." Rockefeller replied, "You are looking at it, buddy, I am all that is left." 

From Wikipedia 

When people tend to think of Progressive or Liberal in America, they tend to think of hippies and hipsters with long beards or goatees, with long hair, who walk around in military fatigues (even though they claim to be anti-military) who think women should be running the world, most Caucasians are bigots, capitalism is racist, personal freedom is dangerous, free speech is offensive, all the false, negative stereotypes of what it means to be a Progressive or Liberal in America. There are plenty of Americans like this, but they tend to be illiberal and regressive in their political philosophy. Not liberal or progressive. Progressivism is actually different from both socialism, and even liberalism, even though it shares similar, if not the same values of American liberalism and conservatism.

Progressivism is not just different from liberalism and socialism, but it's also bipartisan. The original home for the American progressive movement was the Republican Party from a 100 years ago. Theodore Roosevelt, Herbert Hoover, Thomas Dewey, Dwight Eisenhower, Nelson Rockefeller, George Romney, George H.W. Bush (at least when he wasn't a Vice President of the Unites States) governed as a Progressive Republican. There are Right-Progressives who are Center-Right Republicans, who are to the left of Conservative Republicans. And then there are Left-Progressives who are Center-Left and also to the left of Conservative Republicans. 

A Progressive is someone who believes in progress and that government can be used to create progress. But where they separate from Socialists, especially Right-Progressives is that they don't believe government can do everything for everybody and Right-Progressives are also federalists, who believe that government that governs best, is closest to home. And that Federal Government is best qualified to handle regulating interstate commerce, civil rights enforcement, and funding to help underserved communities, but that the state are better qualified to manage social insurance programs to help people in need. 

This page is about Progressives (Democratic and Republican) not Socialists or even Liberals, but some of the great Progressives who've served in America and the contributions that they've made to America.  

"The Republican Party has dominated Minnesota’s politics for much of the state's history. Today's party, though, is very different from the progressive Republican Party that came to power with Harold Stassen in 1938, had its heyday in the middle of the twentieth century, and faded into near-obscurity by the 1990s. But from the ideas and ideals of that dynamic political movement sprang modern Minnesota's success story.

Minnesota's progressive Republican Party stood not for big or small government but for effective government. Issues that are anathema to today's GOP—environmental protection, assistance for vulnerable citizens, and economic opportunity for low-wage workers and the middle class—were at the heart of the party's agenda. Minnesota Republicans held that working across the aisle was a mark of strength, not of weakness or disloyalty.

Senator Dave Durenberger grew up in and helped build that party. In this powerful work of history and witness, he explains how Minnesota's progressive Republicans earned voters' trust and delivered on their promises—and how progressive ideas fell out of favor when an increasingly anti-government, anti-tax national party shifted Minnesota Republican thinking to the right. In the ensuing partisan realignment, both the Republican and the Democratic parties have lost public trust. With eloquence and insight, Durenberger argues that the principles and practices of progressive Republicanism are a fitting remedy for what ails American democracy today." 

Source:Amazon- a book about Progressive Republicans.

From Amazon

Progressive  

"Nelson Aldrich Rockefeller (July 8, 1908 – January 26, 1979) was an American businessman and politician who served as the 41st vice president of the United States from December 1974 to January 1977, and previously as the 49th governor of New York from 1959 to 1973. He also served as assistant secretary of State for American Republic Affairs for Presidents Franklin D. Roosevelt and Harry S. Truman (1944–1945) as well as under secretary of Health, Education and Welfare under Dwight D. Eisenhower from 1953 to 1954. A grandson of billionaire John D. Rockefeller and a member of the wealthy Rockefeller family, he was a noted art collector and served as administrator of Rockefeller Center in Manhattan, New York City.

Rockefeller was a Republican who was often considered to be liberal, progressive,[1] or moderate. In an agreement that was termed the Treaty of Fifth Avenue, Rockefeller persuaded Richard Nixon to alter the Republican Party platform just before the 1960 Republican Convention. In his time, liberals in the Republican Party were called "Rockefeller Republicans". As Governor of New York from 1959 to 1973, Rockefeller's achievements included the expansion of the State University of New York, efforts to protect the environment, the construction of the Governor Nelson A. Rockefeller Empire State Plaza in Albany, increased facilities and personnel for medical care, and the creation of the New York State Council on the Arts." 

From Wikipedia

Nelson Rockefeller  

"The inauguration of Barack Obama as the 44th president took place on January 20, 2009. In his first few days in office, Obama issued executive orders and presidential memoranda directing the U.S. military to develop plans to withdraw troops from Iraq.[220] He ordered the closing of the Guantanamo Bay detention camp,[221] but Congress prevented the closure by refusing to appropriate the required funds[222][223][224] and preventing moving any Guantanamo detainee into the U.S. or to other countries.[225] Obama reduced the secrecy given to presidential records.[226] He also revoked President George W. Bush's restoration of President Ronald Reagan's Mexico City policy prohibiting federal aid to international family planning organizations that perform or provide counseling about abortion... 

From Wikipedia

Barack Obama Presidency