Progress can’t be stopped I heard repeated today by a generation Y person

But progress can also be reversed when in the wrong direction! And just what is this progress that is unstoppable? What is so magic about progress? Sometimes the status quo may have advantages!

Progress has three elements to keep things basic: infrastructure, technology, and humans. Infrastructure means things like public health, transportation, clean water to drink, waste water protection, public education, electricity, and good police protection. Technology means things like computers, communications links, and movies on demand. The human side of progress is where things get more confusing as to what it is. To many it is the advancement of their ideas, their version of the “truth”, especially enhanced by their experience and education. One good example is the emancipation of women. In the west, emancipation is progress; in the east it is the repression of women to serve in their traditional roles. One more good example in the US is the “progress” of expanded individual rights at the expense of group rights. This example is one where some “progress” in the reverse direction is appropriate.

We in the US have a tendency to be spoiled, because we are, when the benefits of progress are so apparent. Most of us think forced air heat and clean running water is a right, not a privilege. Good police and fire protection, financial security, and the electricity coming on when using the switch seem like rights, not privileges. This confusion is even more so on the human side. Are we “progressing” to some more perfect union as defined by those leading the human progress area. For example, is “multiculturalism” vice the “melting pot” progress? Is the present financing of social security progress? And who is this “group” leading we people on the human side of progress in the US? Are they elites using theories and education and their experience, or are they elected representatives more responsive to the citizens?

Because progress in the US is inevitable does not mean one needs to go along with the agenda and dogmas of others who think differently about what progress is. And sometimes progress can be in the wrong direction, and progress in a different direction is called for. This idea mostly applies to the human element of progress. And the elites are not in charge about defining what human progress in the US is. We voters are. Practically applied, fellow citizens seeking public office must discuss what they think about progress and how it affects the voters, mostly in the human area. The US has a good union, and future representatives that lead progress in this union will become the future winners. Right now there are a lot of weak, over-educated, and inexperienced people in too many positions of influence that affect our “progress”. Again, we voters are in charge.

For those who obfuscate “progress” in the US with what the Old Countries are doing, I say it’s of small concern. We are the New World, and the immigration trends reinforce we voters in the US voting for our own version of “progress”.