This is the title I chose for my personal blog, which is meant to give me an outlet for one of my favorite crafts – writing – plus to use an image from my favorite sport, golf.  Out of college, my first job was as a reporter for the Daily Astorian in Astoria, Oregon, and I went on from there to practice writing in all of my professional positions, including as press secretary in Washington, D.C. for a Democrat Congressman from Oregon (Les AuCoin), as an Oregon state government manager in Salem and Portland, as press secretary for Oregon’s last Republican governor (Vic Atiyeh), and as a private sector lobbyist.  This blog also allows me to link another favorite pastime – politics and the art of developing public policy – to what I write.  I could have called this blog “Middle Ground,” for that is what I long for in both politics and golf.  The middle ground is often where the best public policy decisions lie.  And it is where you want to be on a golf course.

It won’t surprise my friends to know that I like words.

More than numbers.  More than charts.  More than graphs. 

Each of those has its place, but, for me, I need words to explain the numbers, charts, and graphs, if not to replace them.  Though one of my business partners would contend, perhaps with some rationale, that numbers, charts and graphs sometimes tell a story better than words.

Regarding the general subject of words, one I don’t like these days is “progressive.”

It is used by many of those involved in politics to describe what they consider to be useful proposals from the left, sometimes the far left.

To me, better word would be liberal.

Now, some might as, why I would write about this.  Well, a couple answers. 

First, I don’t much else to do in retirement, so I spend time thinking about such inconsequential issues.  Second, I am a political junkie, so, for me, words used in politics always spark an interest in me.  Words such as “progressive.”

The dictionary defines the word this way:  “A person advocating or implementing social reform or new, liberal ideas.”

I am not contending that those who use the word are wrong.  They are using the word accurately on the basis of its definition.  It’s just that, for me, the word connotes progress and, sometimes, the best form of progress is to avoid doing something, not to adopt a liberal, left-leaning agenda that almost always calls for more government action.

One of the partners in my old firm, now called CFM Advocates, wrote a piece earlier this week indicating that Oregon’s Fifth District Congressman Kurt Schrader likely would face an election challenge from the left, just as he did two years ago.

The headline on the piece was this:  “Congressman Kurt Schrader Certain to Face Progressive Challenger.”

I beg to differ because the word “progressive” in this headline carries the connotation that Representative Schrader does not support progress.  I know him well, having lobbied him in Salem for several years before he moved to Congress – and he is in favor of progress. 

His definition of progress just differs from what those on the left, sometimes the far-left, favor.  He wants middle ground solutions, which is often where the best public policy solutions lie anyway.  For that reason, he has raised questions about the move in Congress to enact a major new government social and climate change program.

His concern is not with the goals; his concern is with the high price tag.  So, a “progressive” is reported to be running against him because he has not toed the left-leaning line.

Words matter because I want to search for the best ones, not always successfully, I admit, but the search matters.

In politics, “progressive” is not always the best word.  So, I, for one, won’t be using it in the same way it is often used these days.