And this has been discussed in terms of "progress" having been made. "Progress," I have come increasingly to feel, is a highly misleading word. Here is the OED record:
**** 1. a. The action of stepping or marching forward or onward; onward march; journeying, travelling, travel; a journey, an expedition. Now rare.
[clip]1678 BUNYAN (title) The Pilgrim's Progress from this world, to that which is to come. 1745 P. THOMAS Jrnl. Anson's Voy. 160 The Officers and People made a Progress round the Island. 1838 THIRLWALL Greece V. xl. 123 Their progress through the Persian provinces was a kind of triumph.
b. transf. A region or distance traversed.
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2. spec. a. A state journey made by a royal or noble personage, or by a church dignitary; a visit of state; also, the official tour made by judges and others, a circuit; an official visitation of its estates by a college. Now somewhat archaic.
1461 Rolls of Parlt. V. 475/2 [clip]
b. A state procession. Obs.
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3. a. Onward movement in space; course, way.
1595 SHAKES. John II. i. 340 Vnlesse thou let his siluer Water keepe A peacefull progresse to the Ocean. 1601 Jul. C. II. i. 2, I cannot, by the progresse of the Starres, Giue guesse how neere to day. 1667 MILTON P.L. XI. 175 For see the Morn..begins Her rosie progress smiling. 1683 MOXON Mech. Exerc., Printing xi. 1 If the Cheeks of the Press stand wide assunder, the sweep or progress of the..Bar will be greater than if they stand nearer together. 1712-14 POPE Rape Lock v. 132 The Sylphs..pursue its progress thro' the skies. 1754 GRAY Poesy 4 A thousand rills their mazy progress take. 1878 BROWNING La Saisiaz 42 Up and up we went... Call progress toilsome?
b. fig. Going on, progression; course or process (of action, events, narrative, time, etc.). in progress: proceeding, taking place, happening.
1432-50 tr. Higden (Rolls) I. 395 The auctor of this presente Cronicle towchethe in his progresse other processe rather Wales then Englonde. Ibid. VI. 353 Of the begynnynge, progresse, and ende [of] whom [orig. de cujus initio, progressu, et fine] hit is to be advertisede [etc.]. 1526 Pilgr. Perf. (W. de W. 1531) 26 Of the iewes & theyr progresse we may lerne. 1613 SHAKES. Hen. VIII, v. iii. 33 In all the Progresse Both of my Life and Office, I haue labour'd..that [etc.]. 1664 POWER Exp. Philos. III. 155 This virtue decayes in progress of Time (as all Odours do). 1785 REID Intell. Powers II. xxi, So rapid is the progress of the thought. 1849 MACAULAY Hist. Eng. ii. I. 179 While these changes were in progress. 1891 Speaker 2 May 534/1 To trace the progress of chemical knowledge and research from the earliest times.
4. a. Forward movement in space (as opposed to rest or regress); going forward, advance.
1500-20 DUNBAR Poems [CLIP]1784 COWPER Task I. 330 The folded gates would bar my progress now. 1877 BRYCE Transcaucasia (1896) 35 The same sense of motion without progress, which those who have crossed the ocean know so well.
b. fig. Going on to a further or higher stage, or to further or higher stages successively; advance, advancement; growth, development, continuous increase; usually in good sense, advance to better and better conditions, continuous improvement.
1603 KNOLLES Hist. Turks (1638) To Rdr., If you consider the beginning, progresse and perpetuall felicitie of this the Othoman Empire. 1686 tr. Chardin's Trav. Persia 24 Having made no farther progress in his Business. 1713 ADDISON Guardian No. 104 7, I am ashamed that I am not able to make a quicker progress through the French tongue. 1742 YOUNG Nt. Th. IX. 1957 Nature delights in progress; in advance From worse to better: but, when minds ascend, Progress, in part, depends upon themselves. 1846 TRENCH Mirac. Introd. (1862) 38 The very idea of God's kingdom is that of progress, of a gradually fuller communication..of Himself to men. a1862 BUCKLE Misc. Wks. (1872) I. 349 As civilization advances, the progress of manufactures greatly outstrips the progress of agriculture. 1874 GREEN Short Hist. vii. §5. 393 The moral and religious change which was passing over the country through the progress of Puritanism.
5. A coming forth or proceeding from a source. (Cf. PROGRESSION 5.) Obs. rare.[CLIP] 6. Sc. Law. [CLIP] 7. attrib. and Comb., as progress clerk, [CLIP] *******
Consider the difference between the following two statements:
1) We should acknowledge some progress.
2) We should acknowledge some definite improvements.
I think that I would deny the correctness of the first, insist on the correctness of the second. (One cannot dictate the meaning of words, but it is legitimate to identify what Empson calls "equations" in words, and the equation suggested by most uses of "progress" is something like "= permanent improvement, tending towards further improvement." There is (at least the word carries this flavor) an implication of a rachet effect. And of course this invokes the whole bourgeois "Idea of Progress" (which, according to Gould, Darwin attempted explicitly to exclude from his evolutionary theory but also, unfortunately, allowed often to creep in.)
(The word "progressive" is beginning to weary me, but it carries an --almost sub rosa-- meaning that is needed: A Progressive is a non-communist who is willing to work with communists.)
There have been changes, some desirable, some not so desirable, in the u.s. over the last 40 years. I don't think it is any more legitimate to speak of progress than to speak of decay.
Carrol