"Progressive"

How useful is this term in political thought? We live in a three dimensional world, not two, so "forward" and "back" are not the only options. Further, int he theoretical world of "what should we do?" there are more than just three choices, so why is one course of action labeled progressive and another regressive? The idea that if we change what we're doing, and change back to something that people used to do, that's regressive, is so Newtonian-time-centric that it's meaningless! Shouldn't we care about whether the change is a change for the better, if the change will better accomplish our goal? What do we care about which time direction we're going in? Just like C.S. Lewis said, the future is attained by all, at the same speed of 60 minutes an hour, not something that only the heroes achieve.