Hand-pump water and the goal is the water itself—simple, direct. Bolt on a motor, and suddenly it’s not just water but a resource, reshaped by progress into something more complex.
The progressive sees a new tool demanding new solutions and rushes to embrace, adapt, and dream of water flowing freely; the conservative sees the same old needs now tangled with a motor to fix.
According to Victor Davis Hanson, the difference is to assume that because we have progressed, certain ideas, such as free speech or due process, are no longer applicable in the modern world.