The New Progressives

In a post on my post this morning, The real Howard Dean and what it means, Shakespeare's Sister makes and excellent point about political labels.

I am never accused of being a moderate, but I do support a balanced budget that favors social programs over tax cuts for the wealthy and/or a bloated defense budget. Fiscal responsibility may be considered centrist, but it--s also wise. Dean, where it matters, is resolutely a liberal--he supports for civil rights for all Americans, he supports keeping abortion legal, he does not support the war, he believes in providing accessible and affordable healthcare, etc.--and he will have no problem selling his brand of moderation to me.

The definitions of liberal, progressive, centrist, moderate and conservative have been blurred. I consider myself both a progressive and a moderate, I don't see any contradiction there. Middle Earth Journal feels at home on lists of progressive blogs and lists of centrist blogs and appears on both. While reading "conservative" sites like LewRockwell.com I find I have more in common with them than just an opposition to the war. I'm not opposed to a strong military to defend this country. I am opposed to wars of imperialism to fatten the bottom line of large corporations. I am in favor of looking out for those in our society who need some help. I'm not in favor of the corporate welfare of the Bush administration.
Democrats didn't lose ground because of what they believe they lost ground because the were afraid to talk about what they believe. Howard Dean is not afraid to say what he believes and that is a positive step and why the Rovian spin masters are terrified of him.