We aren't "making progress" when 90% of people surveyed want to physically put me in a cage for years for having a few hits of LSD in my pocket, or for selling steroids to gym buddies.
America is a country that enjoys persecuting people. Even better if they "deserve" it. A country once built on second, third, fourth chances, has now dedicated itself to the proposition that the tiniest mistake should destroy your entire life.
I am pleased to see that sometimes, we take a micro-step back the other direction. But I have seen no indication that the swing will ever go the other way. How could it? What lawmaker would ever advocate being softer on crime? What company would encourage what is "illegal"? And when the entire conversation is controlled by those who will never encourage those points of view because it would be unpopular, your average American will never have the conversation on any other terms either.