So it depends how you define progressive.

As a PoC I have certainly witnessed racism from white, black and Hispanic liberals. At its worst the democratic party can feel like a clubhouse for non regressive white people and the largest minority groups in the country. No one else really has a seat at the table. Is that really progressive?

I’ve moved on to assessing peoples worldview as either inclusionary or exclusionary. Unfortunately most people, left or right, have an exclusionary world view.

Exclusionary here means a failure to acknowledge the universal sanctity of human dignity. Nearly everyone is focused on themselves or their group exclusively. Some in ways that are more harmful than others.

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Not empires specifically but how religion shaped / influenced them. Basically the history of collective thought and value systems and how they came about. Christianity’s take over of Rome, Islam’s rise in the Arabian peninsula, Buddhism’s rise and fall in India, the Vedas etc.

I think Western capitalist culture has slowly eroded the value of thinking in favor of doing and, through gradual financial coercion via the International Monetary Fund, this has slowly become the global dominant worldview.

In other words, you were born a few centuries too late for philosophy to be valued. Even in the past it was often met with scrutiny (though often commanded respect).

Nowadays thinkers are expected to ascend corporate ladders and embed themselves within instituions with the ultimate goal of extracting excess capital beyond ones needs from said institutions. That is what the current global value system supports.

I mean this as respectfully as possible but what compelled you to marry a man from the 1700s?

Sounds like you need to talk some sense into your husband.

Capitalism absolutely but philosophical objectivism and materialism are also issues. You have to have some sort of spiritual belief in the sanctity of life for a society to be sustainable. Spiritual not necessarily in a religious sense. Moreso an understanding that we are all interconnected (the antithesis of Western individualism).

Let’s just say the enlightment period had some good ideas and brought about positive change, especially in the short term, but the wisdom of that philosophical thought is not all encompassing, even though people (especially Westerners) often treat it like it is.