97 Progress

<p style="margin-bottom: 0in;">Progress is a word so overused that it has lost its meaning but technological advancements that increase a society's maturity, wisdom & understanding will suffice. Progress has little to do with happiness and everything to do with understanding what makes people happy. 16th-Century philosopher Thomas Hobbes' famous proclamation, “the life of man is solitary, poor, nasty, brutish & short,” is what progress works to alleviate.</p> <p>Progress is another manifestation of liberty's dichotomy because it often brings individual rights into conflict with the collective. Progress causes dramatic changes in the status quo, so if a political system is focused on the group, and since most people are naturally resistant to change, they will hinder and stifle progress. Socialism demands that science must not upset the interests of the community or jobs that were once useful become obsolete, people that were once knowledgeable become naïve, and carefully balanced command economies collapse. Conservative forces also oppose progress but for a different reason: progress brings change that may conflict with mystic beliefs, traditions, or disrupt social hierarchies. However, in America's liberty society, individuals are the catalysts of progress, so it happens automatically.</p>