Fuse is another useless waste of space organization whose sole purpose is to do the dirty work that the Democrat party cannot legally or will not do.

Example? How did that Rossi deposition work out for you Aaron? What happened to the case? It was just a political stunt wasn't it? You still get named to the boards and commissions so you can be the reliable yes vote for the party. It's a reward that makes you seem more important than you really are, it gets you quoted in the paper even though you have never done anything positive to contribute to society.

Progressives also believe in markets. There's nothing in your material that even mentions markets. Everything Fuse mentions on its website -- in all my conversations with people from Fuse -- in all of your endorsements -- represent nothing more than traditional American liberalism. It doesn't matter what you call yourselves. You are what you are. I don't think Fuse is a waste of space, unlike the previous commenter, but you are nothing more than traditional liberal Democrats. It's why the Democrats have such a difficult time of overcoming the gross ineptitude of the Republicans. You're simply to the left of where most of the voters are.

As a longtime progressive, I suggest that Mr. Sell, Mr. Fox and the whiny Republican commentator above dust off their dictionaries and look up the words "progress" and "progressive." The authoritative Oxford dictionary, for example, provides us with this definition:

• Adjective: 1 proceeding gradually or in stages. 2 favouring innovation or social reform. 3 (of tax) increasing as a proportion of the sum taxed as that sum increases. 4 (of a card game or dance) involving successive changes of partner. 5 archaic engaging in or constituting forward motion.

• Noun: a person advocating social reform.

Simply put, progress means moving forward toward a better outcome for all. Progressives place the common good above individual or corporate greed; they place honesty and integrity above legal loopholes and misuse of funds (Rossi).

Mr. Sell: I don't much care about the Progressive Party of the 1920s. We live in 2009. I care about progress today -- moving away from the corporate and political dictatorship of the Bush era and even away from some of the ineptitude propagated by the Democrats and forward toward an open democracy aimed at the common good that I believe America was founded to be.

May I suggest reading True Patriot by Eric Liu and Nick Hanauer. By the arguments offered in this forward-thinking pamphlet, Fuse is progress and progressive personified. It’s an organization helping average, largely non-political; folk like myself stand up and speak out on the issues and decisions that impact us just as those decisions are being made.

I don't know about you, but I call that a huge step forward. I call that progress.

"... affordable, high quality health care for all; a cleaner, safer environment; better wages, benefits, and working conditions for working Americans; the protection of civil rights and elimination of discrimination; reproductive freedom; fiscal responsibility; and corporate accountability."

Pretty bold statement, here in Seattle. Even though you do not mention it I am going to make a guess and say you favor honesty in advertising too.

Do the Regressives have a definition?

There was some language contained in corporation requirements for this state that spell out that a business should benefit the community. The old-school progressives (that is me, I guess) have a policy interest in busness from the "good" business owner's pov.

This state is so polarized politically when it comes to business that moderate voices (let's call them - small cap - progressives) getting called bad names by liberals and conservatives alike.

Take this the wrong way, but viewing the world through SEIU glasses is not enough of a "broad" view of business.
Binding the usual Dem suspects into a digital communication PAC does not make it progressive, it makes it remediated liberalism.

I'm sort of liking that "militant moderate" tag. Following on Mr. Sell's comment, above ... the success of our own unique (to the US) form of capitalism is what supplies the wealth that has made our progress - civic, social, artistic, educational, philosophic - possible. Thus, protecting the markets is important to me, and I'm not apologizing for that. I want that progress to continue (or rather, be recaptured) and extended to more of us.

Aaron thinks I'm out of step with my district, though, and I accept his opinion as appropriate for FUSE ... but maybe not for the 48th.

/deb

I agree with Deb.

BTW, the "buy local" movement requires a sell local, a business, a small business in many cases.
As a progressive person I support small business, and local business policy the makes that exchange beneficial for my community. I support policy that makes public farmer's markets possible, as well as the privately owned farmer's markets where local farmers can sell their products.
Did I lose anybody with this strange desire to promote a healthy business environment? Not likely, but you are going to have to make an effort to find anything like that kind of talk in Progressive (tm) groups policy statements.

Mr. Sell said: "It's why the Democrats have such a difficult time of overcoming the gross ineptitude of the Republicans. You're simply to the left of where most of the voters are."

And here I thought it was because Democrats allowed for more freedom of thought and thus end up with a less cohesive message. Somehow Democrats beat the Republicans in the last two national elections anyway.

Do you have any numbers to back up your claim, or is this just Rovian informed speculation?

I wondered what happened to you, Aaron.

Not surprised that you're involved in another far left, Seattle greenie group like Futurewise. I would go a bit further than many of the other commenters in that I think Fuse is Socialist more than progressive or liberal.

"Freedom, opportunity, security for all." achieved through a clean environment (translated meaning 'total land use control'),better wages and working conditions(min wage, family leave act, corporate pay caps), protection of civil rights(1st amendment all the away baby, but don't worry about that pesky second amendment),reproductive freedom(taxpayer funded abortion, whether individuals support it or not), fiscal responsibility(high taxes) and corporate responsibility(restrictive and comprehensive laws defined by Fuse)

Freedom and opportunity my arse.

eastkingcountyrednecklogger, you are not going further, are are some place other than "Progressive". You imagine things not said as the antithesis of your construct (if I see myself as an angel then there must be a devil).

I have, in my remarks, pointed to policy points of view between what I am calling progressive (good business for the community is good, bad business is bad), and the absense of the business prospective from many Progressives (tm). The problem I am having with these folks is that absent a reformist policy toward harmful business that does not also crush the good businesses.

Then there are the "conservatives" on the other side of me esposing excesses in business as "freedom" to not be constrained.

The ever widening polar opposites claims to pregressive or libertarian pov is growing ever increasingly absurd.

But that's just me.

Mr Baker,

I live in a world defined by real markets. I have to produce to survive. I have contracts with private landowners to log their timber and sell it on markets defined only by what they are willing to pay, period. Many of these markets are overseas, unregulated amd unrestrained by government, at least by ours.

I know there were abuses by business in the past and recently, but the far greater problem is stifling government regulation. This sucks the productivity out of the main engine of our economy, small business.

Now we are in a great recession. The value of a good job will once again be defined. I don't want to see anyone in a position to define what is a 'good' business or a 'bad' business, because it will be another bureacrat who probably won't understand that that he regulates.

FREE MARKETS, FREE PEOPLE, FREEDOM!

Ignoring for the moment all the ranting and namecalling,

In one-party Seattle I've come to see two different political tendencies, which I think of as the pragmatists vs. the ideologues. The ideologues are often people I agree with (ideologically at least), but who don't care if the nice words and policies they love have any relationship to what happens in the actual world. For ideologues, it doesn't matter that political statements don't cause any real change, or sometimes that the real world changes they cause will be negative, as long as they support their side of an argument. I'm looking to support pragmatists, who are willing to make a deal sometimes to make something happen. Compromise doesn't mean that you don't know what you believe in; it means that you're sometimes willing to make a deal to move the ball down the field.

People who think of ourselves as progressives (because that's the word in favor these days) are always caught in the dilemma here between supporting whoever espouses the purest statement of what we believe in vs. whoever has a clue how to make something really happen. And making things really happen almost always means you get your hands dirty and make some deals with people you don't always agree with. I was happy to see Aaron define progressive to be on the pragmatic side, and I look forward to seeing whether that's how Fuse will be.

Mr. Fellows ... well put! /deb

"Fuse distributes this guide, compiling compiles the endorsements of a wide range of progressive organizations with the goal of making it easier for voters to identify and vote for progressive candidates. The participating organizations include groups such as Washington Conservation Voters, SEIU, Planned Parenthood Votes, and Progressive Majority." - Aaron Ostrom

"I was happy to see Aaron define progressive to be on the pragmatic side," — Rob Fellows

pragmatic?
Really?
SEIU?

eastkingcountyrednecklogger, "past abuses"?

When your "freedom" of action damages the community then expect the community react, that is all I am saying. I am not about to accept SEIU's "pragmatic" of business, wholesale, either.

The point of the story was the labeling, or re-labeling of "Progressive". And I challenged the idea that progressive would take the view of business that SEIU has, and that does not mean unfettered destruction of the community. Wholesale, either way, I just do not see as progressive or Progressive.