Is there a whole lot of difference between Liberalism and Progressive Liberalism : The difference between the two lies in how they see the role of government in our society. In an article in Being Classically Liberal and Matt Palumbo March 16, 2016, posted in Liberty.me made the following distinction, “ In the economic realm, classical liberals advocate the free market economy, because, as noted by the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, “unless people are free to make contracts and to sell their labor, or unless they are free to save their incomes and then invest them as they see fit, or unless they are free to run enterprises when they have obtained the capital, they are not really free.” In the political and social realms, classical liberals have been the greatest advocates of freedom of speech, freedom of the press, freedom of religion, and so on.
In contrast, progressive liberalism principally advocates egalitarianism and ‘social justice.’ Progressive liberals believe themselves to be defenders of minorities and the downtrodden. They seek to eliminate society of political, social, and economic inequalities. Seemingly, this is a distinction without a difference, as one can advocate both liberty and equality simultaneously. However, there is a substantive difference between classical and progressive liberals, and it comes down to what they believe the role of government is. “
So, how do we look at Progressiveness today, that was original shaped during the part of late 1800s. It was applied to an entire era of our history roughly a century ago, from about 1890 to about 1920, encompassing the progressive administrations of Theodore Roosevelt and Woodrow Wilson (along with sympathetic analogs in many state capitals, such as "Fighting Bob" La Follette in Wisconsin). There was for a time a magazine called La Follette's, but it eventually changed its name to The Progressive. February 5, 20169:30 AM ET RON ELVING NPR
Franklin Delano Roosevelt in 1941 defined a liberal party as one,
"which believes that, as new conditions and problems arise beyond the power of men and women to meet as individuals, it becomes the duty of Government itself to find new remedies with which to meet them. The liberal party insists that the Government has the definite duty to use all its power and resources to meet new social problems with new social controls—to ensure to the average person the right to his own economic and political life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness."[11]
Today Liberal and Progressive terms are used interchangeably in today's political world. This was evident during the 2016 campaign. The bottom line is that we can both travel the same road to accomplish our objectives regardless f the label we choose.