The problem is the so called progress is dominated by left wing extremists who have replaced their lack of belief in god with a desire for an all powerful government to take care of them.
I am pretty far left, and I have no desire for the government to take care of me.
I am in favor of the government stepping in to help those in need so they can educate themselves, get trained or transition into self sufficiency and be a productive part of our society.
Government isn't the enemy. Unfortunately, the larger the society, the larger the population and lad area, the larger the government needs to be to keep order and for general safety. When you have very little government, you end up with a country like Somalia, with very little order and no real safety. My experience is that most persons who advocate for a small government, actually want all the benefits they now enjoy that result from having a large government, but either they don't want to pay for it (via taxes), or they are just too ignorant to realize how the government makes their society more livable and a better place to live, or a combination of the two.