@Caravanfan It’s also an example of how I can vehemently disagree with your position but have immense respect for you and your opinions. (I hope you have an awesome game—what kind of dragon is it?)
There are a ton of shades on the left, you’re right about that. Moving from most extreme left to right:
1. Tankies (i.e. your authoritarian communists)
2. Marxists (pushing for a post-Capitalist, economy with co-ops as exemplified by Mondragon Corporation and a more decentralized, libertarian-style government).
3. Happy middle of democratic socialism like the Scandinavian model. Still capitalist, but supports co-ops, labor, and a robust social-safety net. They make large, universal investments in education and healthcare to maximize productivity, wellbeing, equality of opportunity, and general happiness of the population. There is still a huge difference between the richest and the poorest, but with high social mobility scores, the idea of “making it if you try” is way more realistic than in America. This ought to be the metric America optimizes for IMO. I’m probably most closely aligned with this shade of left.
4. “Classic blue-collar Democrat” I’d say this is the pre-Bill Clinton, pro-union, capitalist, who leans protectionist. This is the iron smelter in PA who used to be a rock-solid blue vote. They may be gun owners, they despise elitism and wine caves, are weary of corporate mergers and the aggregation of power, are keenly aware of the diminishing strength of unions in the nation, and have been evaporating from the party since NAFTA.
5. Neo-liberal, pro-corporate, globalists who believe the free market will produce the best outcomes. They pursue balanced budgets, and austerity. They are mostly concerned with social issues on the left. such as LGBTQ+, racial social equality (less so with the economic racial equality), women’s rights, etc.
6. Ex-Republicans who want the Democratic Party to become a more polite version of 90’s-era Republican policy with a smattering of support for social issues on the left.