It is said that Hegel, the prominent advocate of Idealism, read newspapers everyday. He said that the newspaper was his teacher. It is an irony that he was keen on everyday changes of the world, while advocating an unchanging doctrine of the progress of reason in human history. It is understandable, however, that idealism needs evidence in reality. Hegel must have found evidences of his idealism throughout human history and everyday life. Great thinkers always base their assertion on evidence from reality, which means that they change their theory whenever they find different evidence. So the ideas change as the reality changes.
    So is true of conservatives and progressives. A good conservative changes his assertion when the reality, i.e., society, changes. And a good progressive changes his assertion likewise. Conservatism means to conserve what is worthwhile in the past, while progressivism means to progress toward what is worthwhile to achieve in the future. Between the past and future lies the present, the reality now. Both conservatism and progressivism, consequently, are shaped from the evaluation of the present. Where are we now, what are we losing, what do we need more of, what did we achieve, so on.
    It is the reason why the conservatism and progressivism of one country is different from another country. Socialism is considered as progressive in capitalist countries while liberalism is the progressivism, and socialism as conservatism in socialist countries. Also, conservatism and progressivism of today are, and should be, different from those of hundred years or decades ago.
    What is lacking in Korean progressives regrettably is an observation, reflection, and objective evaluation of the present. They seem to assert what they used to assert decades ago. They object to government, laws, authority, and social orders which they used to object to under the dictatorship. 
    Student movements which have been an important wing of progressive forces of Korea since the Student Revolution of 1960 and a major contributor in bringing about democracy and saving Korea from military dictatorship in the late 80s, are in these days fossilized in an archaic ideology of the past. Their pro-North Korean Jucheism, anti-Americanism, and anti-business perspectives still remain as unchanged. Students frequently disregard law and order and rely on unlawful measures such as the illegal occupation of the President’s office of this university last month.
    The National Student Organization comprising most universities in the country is still dependent on anti-dictatorship ideology and socialism. They are blind to the collapse of socialism in 1990 and to the people's tragedy of North Korea. Being estranged from the reality, they are being isolated from students and the general public. The withdrawal of Seoul National University from the organization last month is a symbolic development.
    Physical matter has inertia: Moving matter keeps moving until it is restrained and immobile matter remains still until it is moved. Sometimes our thoughts have the same inertia. We often tend to think and view things in the same way after the reality has changed. The cruelty and paranoia that were shaped under the dictatorship still play a background role. If one is haunted by the ghost of dictatorship in the nighttime, he may be cruel and destructive in the daytime.
    Euphemism and justification, how perfect may they be, still fall short of getting consent from the public. The reason? Because they are simply wrong! Reality is moving, keep on moving. So are conservatism and progressivism. Persuasive conservatism and progressivism come into being only after a proper assessment of the present.