You Can Stop Progress - a few more thoughts

A belief in Progress goes along with economic growth. While economic growth, especially as measured by GNP, isn't a total good or the only measure or process worth considering, could a tendency to believe that things will generally get better survive in a no-growth situation, which we may well be coming to? @@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@ If you believe in Progress, you will not be convinced by people who say things that concern you can't change. But if you believe in Progress, you may be unable to question whether the major trends you see in recent history are for the good at all. 999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999 The term "Progressive" in politics has described all sorts of people from reforming radicals with a populist tinge (USA) to several moderate conservative parties in Europe. If you say you're a progressive, what kind of positions does that rule out? If none, is the term meaningful? ??????????????????????????????????????????????????????? The problem about the term "progressive" is that it can be applied to anything you think is the trend of the time. Eugenics was once thought very progressive and so were the early Italian Fascists. "Progressive" tells us nothing about where you stand on civil liberties, the environment, war and peace. Nationalism was once generally thought to be progressive and now to be non-progressive, though it was supposedly progressive in the Soviet Union in the view of the West - and, of course, reactionary to the Communists! Marx thought it was progressive to support the workers' cause because they were the force of the future - but what if he'd been convinced the flow of history was against them? %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% Is it progressive to think the kingdom of God on earth is coming and to work towards it? Is there, in fact, a religious root to the idea of progress and has the root rotted? ???????????????????????????????????????????????????????