California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger was on This Week this morning, and he took a very different stand than congressional Republicans on the economic stimulus and the Tea Party Movement.
Saying that the gain or saving of 150,000 jobs in his state, many of them teachers, police officer and firefighters was a major plus, he repudiated the idea that the economic stimulus had failed to have any effect.
He also said that the Tea Party Movement was not going to go anywhere politically, as he perfectly understood the frustration of millions of people regarding the terrible economic downturn, but that it was simply a world wide reality of discontent in difficult times for families and individuals. He endorsed the Obama approach to the economy, which will, of course, only further separate him from his Republican party colleagues who continue to oppose everything the President does or says.
Of course, Schwarzenegger is a moderate Republican, a dying breed, sadly, in the GOP! 
You correctly cite many good things Progressives have promoted for our citizens. Progressivism is nothing if not well intentioned. The downside, however, is that Progressives believe that good intentions are sufficient. They have no sense of limits or economic reality. Wherever Progressivism has ruled the states or cities the longest, the greater the economic disaster they face. The ultimate end of all your good intentions is a very comfortable third-rate economy, where our freedoms are severely constrained by government and poverty. And yet you push on. Remarkable.