What's A "Progressive"?

I grew up in Wisconsin and in school we learned about the Wisconsin Ideas and the Progressives. And we were proud of that.

The original progressives were reformers, not radicals. Teddy Roosevelt and Fighting Bob La Follette were not Marxists. Neither was Iowa's great progressive, Henry Wallace (though he accepted Communist support, which backfired and did him more harm than good). 

There were progressives in both major parties and in third parties, supporting a wide range of governmental reforms and business regulations - trust busting, but not Seizing The Means Of Production. There were lots of different kinds of progressives just as there were lots of different kinds of liberals and moderates and conservatives.

About ten years ago the word "progressive" got narrowly defined. If you did not support one particular presidential candidate in 2016 and 2020, and if you supported candidates other than his acolytes in other races, you were no longer allowed to call yourself a progressive.

That irks my Wisconsin born pride. I'd like to take the word "progressive" back from the extremists.