Huge difference between a Democrat and a “progressive liberal” the same as there is a difference between a Republican and a Conservative. I’m a conservative not a republican. Real Democrats, even though we don’t see eye to eye on many things are rational thinking and can generally work across the isle to solve issues. Very few good Democrats are left they’re being driven out by communists within their party. There is no such thing as a “Democratic Socialist” it’s a soft term for communists
Here’s the irony. What you say is true in terms of the extreme within the Democratic Party. I am not a Democratic Socialist (I strongly believe in capitalism) but I temper that with “the rich are getting richer and the poor (AND THE MIDDLE) getting poorer and that there are fairness issues that need to be addressed. And some of all that might be considered by some here “socialistic”.
Back to the irony: we are not really as polarized as everyone says. The political parties and politicians are VERY POLARIZED, not us the actual people. We break down as:
About one third Democrat
One third Republican
One third Independent
A great many/most of the Independents are moderates like me. And some of us within the parties (like me a Democrat) are moderates. Never count the moderates out!
Generally we moderates are this:
Concerned about income fairness (comments above)
Liberal on health care policy
More pro-law enforcement than against it, (enforce, prosecute and support the people who do this for a living)
In between on immigration
Back and forth on foreign policy depending on the specifics
In between on culture wars (not too “woke”, but more live and let live)
Some variations but generally the above.
