I doubt that there's much point in arguing it here, but it wasn't the free market that got us into the problems we are having now.

You're right about that, Charles, it was the freebooters market that got us into this pickle.

Once we have guaranteed wages we could change jobs and start a new business as well. Should we guarantee a wage?

I would assert being free from an onerous tax to pay for that universal health care is more important. That's my kind of freedom.

The free market has taken a pounding lately but it is still the best system for individuals and our society as a whole. History proves it.

"we’re never going to be more free with regard to health care than we are right now. "

More free? Is that your conception of freedom - some right to be uninsured?
The freedom of the American people, in any sane sense of the word, will increase dramatically once we have a system of guaranteed health care. No longer will people be trapped in jobs, unable to change them for better ones, or to go off and start their own businesses because their health, or the health of one of their family members is such that no insurer would cover them on the free market. No longer will the vicissitudes of health determine the nature of ones possibilities and opportunities.

And you will still get to choose your own doctor!

That said, there seems to be a bit of definition switching for the terms progressive and conservative. Per JJ's article the definition seems to be straight out of Webster's rather than modern political usage. If using the terms progressive and conservative as they are in common American political parlance, each is a combination of regressive, conservative, and progressive principles. The two definitions come closest to matching on social issues, but even there the match is wanting.

On social issues "conservatives" are often as not regressive rather than conservative, whereas "progressives" are often as not conservative rather than progressive. Abortion is a high profile example of this.

So, tell me again how conservatives are winning... or are Republicans just turning into Tories before our very eyes?

Conservatives almost inevitably lose in the end because we defend a set of cultural ideals that are under constant assault. Liberalism is like terrorism in the sense -- and only in the sense -- that they can win by an attack here and there while we have to defend successfully each and every time.

My point and Matt's is that "conservative" politicians nonetheless win more often than not because they simply conserve a different status quo.

the most pernicious aspect of President Obama's deficit spending spree is that it will likely establish a new baseline moving forward, even when Republicans take power again.

Well, Charles, in fairness, when the Republicans were in power not that many years ago, they set a pretty good new baseline for deficit spending, right?

Democrats Can’t Win for Losing

I think the title should have been: Democrats Can’t Not Win for Losing

While conservatives have permanently lost quite a few fights, we’ve actually permanently won a few, too. We tend to remember our losses more clearly than our victories.

Maybe that is due to a variant of "what's mine is mine and what's yours is negotiable." Oh perhaps it is because, in your words, that conservatives have a lost quite a few fights, while winning a few. Hitting .300 is only worthy of consideration for the Hall of Fame in baseball.

As I believe you have noted before, perhaps the most pernicious aspect of President Obama's deficit spending spree is that it will likely establish a new baseline moving forward, even when Republicans take power again. So, tell me again how conservatives are winning... or are Republicans just turning into Tories before our very eyes?

Another thought, the latter appeal essentially concedes defeat to progressivism as it implicitly allows that conservatives want the same things as progressives, just perhaps not as quickly, whereas the former appeal essentially concedes defeat as our extant culture vlaues nothing as much as the next big thing.

Again, if this is conservatism, you can have it.

Oh, c'mon. So you can't admit there's been one ounce of progress made in any area since the beginning of conservatism?