Changing the Principles: Bonus Op!

It's time once again for another bonus point opportunity. Last semester, we asked all the readers on Progressive U to define what they thought "progress" meant. We got a lot of great entries, and so we decided to do something in a similar vein this semester.

By now, you should know of our Progressive Principles: Broad Prosperity, Shared Responsibility, Effective Government, Personal Freedom, and Better Future. According to the rules of the Blogging for Progress Scholarship Competition, your blog must be considered 'progressive' by one of these five things. Of course, we take a rather broad view of things, and in general, if we consider something working towards progress, it will be considered towards the competition.

But, many times, we have heard complaints from people about these principles being too narrow, or perhaps against a certain political view (despite that view still being progressive). Since we do aim to please our readership, we want to ask you all to tell us what you think.

Here's the deal. Between now and December 10th, we want you to tell us what you think our principles should be, and define them in your own terms. You must list 5 principles to get the points for this opportunity. You still have a chance to be creative, to redefine our principles: if you think one or more of the above principles doesn't accurately define progress, change it. If you think they are all fine as is, then define what you think those principles are.

For instance, personal responsibility to me is people taking responsibility for their own actions, as well as helping others in need. I believe everyone has the responsibility to help out their fellow man.

Of course, if I were to enter this bonus point challenge, I would expand greatly upon that, perhaps giving instances of personal responsibility.

In the end, our staff will look at what everyone thinks should be our progressive principles. If one or more is taken out, then we'll look to your suggestions to replace it. In addition, we will use your responses to redefine our principles on their individual pages between this competition and the Spring 2009 competition.

Anyone who successfully defines 5 progressive principles will be given 250 points towards the Blogging for Progress competition. Remember to tag your entries with "Progressive Principles," else you will not get any points. Also, please note that these points will not be added until the end of the bonus point period, so please don't e-mail or PM us wondering where your points are. We keep track of them, promise.

If you have any questions, let us know by commenting here!