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Thanks for actually answering the question! I would distill it down a little further though, and say that the difference between conservative and progressive is that progressives believe that human nature is malleable and that the system can be used to drive humanity in a positive direction. On the other hand, conservatives believe that human nature cannot be fundamentally changed and that attempts to do so will result in dystopia of some kind, or an overall decrease in happiness as humankind strays further from it's nature. Obviously there are people within either of these camps who take things way too far. I don't remember where I read this theory, but it's the only one that has held up over the years and in various contexts.
Human nature has nothing to do with it, and whoever gave you that theory was selling something.
"Progressives" are a form of liberal that seek to preserve the status quo by allowing minor alterations to relieve the pressure of the system's internal contradictions. "Conservatives", in contrast, are liberals who want to preserve the status quo by enforcing its hierarchies against whoever they perceive as being an outside influence.
Classical Liberals, the whole lot of them.
I suppose the third type of person is a revolutionary, who wants to throw it away and start over. But then what, continue the cycle of revolution once the next generation arrives? Or is there an end point? Do you think it can actually be achieved? From a practical perspective, does human nature allow that?
Yeah. It seems to me that a society that reinvents itself for each new generation would be more dynamic and responsive to the needs of the people it serves than the ten plus generations of stagnation we've had in the USA.