ABSTRACT
The North Star of progressive political science always pointed toward more democracy. The theoretical problem was to define precisely what was meant by democracy that made it "progressive" and thereby separated "progressive democracy" from the popular government vocabulary of the founders. The practical problem was that the broad character of progressive democracy that gradually emerged was patterned on a European style welfare state system. Comparing and contrasting the progressive definition of democracy with that of the founders is complicated, in part, by some ambiguities inherent in the natural law political science of the founders. The progressive idea of democracy grounded in political perfection began with a very different conception of representation. The desideratum for a just form of popular government, as The Federalist emphasized, required that the potentially destructive aspects of this diversity of interests be somehow controlled and still preserve both individual and group freedom.
