I have always cringed at labels. Somehow they seem to limit and confine, rather than free and define. It has taken me years, but I have finally grudgingly agreed with a friend that I am one of the “ORIGINAL” Progressives : the ones my Republican grandparents embraced in their younger years and one that I as a fiscally conservative Democrat can also embrace. Another description that I can live with, that describes the action needed to be sure our government serves us honestly, is “Disrupter.” The original progressives championed government that moved forward. They were disrupters of corrupt political machine rule. Disrupters step into situations and ask the tough questions that make them better. The other phrase I like is “Purple.” My podcast producer calls his platform Purple Banter because he embraces open conversation between people of differing political views – when red and blue mix they are purple. The Economist considers the roles of disrupters of police corruption in South Africa, Systemic Bribery in Britain’s Rolls Royce, and of the treatment of whistleblowers in the video linked at the beginning of this sentence.