Progressives are all about progress, regressives about stagnation.
A long time ago the brains of humans learned how to do something no other animal had ever done: shorten the process of evolution. We have been exponentially evolving technology ever since, until today technological advancement doubles every other nanosecond.
But the development of dazzling technology is only one way to progress as a species, and it comes with hidden costs (such as the ancient Romans experienced with their lead-lined water pipes and we are experiencing today with global warming), the other being to advance toward a better humanity. The term "progressive" is a label for the latter.
I now offer its counterpart, "regressive" as a label for those who would halt the advancement of humanity, to stagnate progress and revert backward into the ancient, default animal state.
Such is the mission of the Karl Rove's and the Joseph Goebbels' of the world, and such is the purpose behind the 19 Principles of Propaganda (see my diary "Rove's playbook").
The struggle between progressives and regressives is constant and brutal, but we are on the cusp of a breakthrough: the Internet has given millions of ordinary people, like myself, a voice like we have never had before, and ordinary people is where progress toward a more humane world really originates. It cannot come only from our leaders, because once one of us becomes a leader we automatically default to the "alpha" animal state of protecting our position.
President Barak Obama is an example of an ordinary (extraordinary, really) person, dedicated to progressing toward a better humanity, now becoming our leader. The jury is still out on whether he will continue to be defined as a progressive, or will allow the regressive's Principles of Propaganda to confuse him, as they are intended to do, into protecting his alpha position.