The US finally begins to crawl out of the third world

You've only proven my point, All political terminology is essentially subjective, There is virtually no such thing as an impartial assessment. The only true litmus test of how "advanced/progressive or Backwards/regressive" a policy is to observe the general long-term worldwide chronological trend, which has historically been to abandon certain policies in favour of others. Which policies over the past 500 years have become more common, and which have become more rare?

I'd say totalitarianism has become more common. That form of centralized state did not exist in pre-modern times. That must be one of the advanced and progressive things we should aspire to.

I agree that totalitarianism has become more common than it was 500 years ago- largely due to the technological advances in communication, transport, etc. that enabled governments to gain such control, although it has hardly become a consistent worldwide trend.