Progressives are nice people, they just have the wrong mental model of government. Government isn't a charity. It's a vital part of an economy and until Progressives understand that government's job is not to do good things but to add value, there's not going to be much Progress. That is, unless we Progressives do the hard work of forming and making the argument that government is worth the money, not because of the wonderful charity work it can do, but because government is essential to prosperity.
The typical Progressive's model of government is this: The Private Sector does the necessary, Government does the good. The necessary funds the good. This is basically a religious model and while it's charming, warm and fuzzy, it's an inappropriate basis for creating good public policy.
Here's what government really is, in economic terms: Government is a conduit through which value flows between The People and the marketplace in a virtuous cycle. In economic terms, everything from public transit to public schools to public art is a conduit for value. Whether it's law enforcement, regulation, conservation, subsidy - and, yes, even government charity work - Government benefits society when its actions increase the efficiency and positive reflexivity of value exchange between people and the market and vice versa, obviously.
Conservatives cite economic value flowing from the marketplace to the government and deny that economic value flows back to the market. Rather than meet their argument head on, Progressives say "But government is good! What does this mean in practice? Well, consider this question: "Why do we educate children? The payoffs are huge and the investment is very small. Conservatives question the underlying value of public education and everything else public because they see the value of education in terms of the value to the individual child and family.
To this, Progressives say "Education is good! That's not at issue. What's at issue is who should pay for education and why. The value of government is not self-evident.
