Do you believe in free speech? Do you believe that people should be judged by their character,

not their skin color? Do you believe in freedom of religion? If you believe these things,

you're probably not a progressive. You might think you're a progressive, I used to think

I was. My show, The Ruben Report, was originally part of the Progressive Young Turks Network.

Progressive struck me as liberals, but louder. Progressives were the nice guys, they looked

out for the little guy they cared about women and minorities. They embraced change. In short,

who wouldn't want to be a progressive? But over the last couple years, the meaning of the word

progressive has changed. Progressives used to say, I may disagree with what you say, but I'll fight

to the death for your right to say it. Not anymore. Banting speakers whose opinions you don't agree

with from college campuses? That's not progressive. Prehibiting any words not approved of as politically

correct. That's not progressive. Putting trigger warnings on books, movies, music, anything that

might offend people, that's not progressive either. All of this has led me to believe that much of

the left is no longer progressive, but regressive. This is one of the reasons I've spent so much time

on my show talking about the regressive left. This regressive ideology doesn't judge people as

individuals, but as a collective. If you're black or female or Muslim or Hispanic or member of any

other minority group, your judge differently than the most evil of all things, a white Christian

male. The regressive left ranks minority groups in a pecking order to compete in a kind of

oppression Olympics. Gold medal goes to the most defended. Martin Luther King Jr.'s dream that his

children would be judged by their character and not their skin color was a liberal idea,

but these days it's not a progressive ideal. And what about religious freedom, the idea that no

one else can tell you what you have to believe? Surely progressive still support that basic right?

Well, not so much. I'm a married gay man, so you might think that I appreciate the government

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