{"id":4335,"date":"2024-10-10T18:44:45","date_gmt":"2024-10-10T18:44:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/josephrauch.com\/therauchreview\/?p=4335"},"modified":"2025-09-14T18:43:14","modified_gmt":"2025-09-14T18:43:14","slug":"explaining-two-factions-us-political-left","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/josephrauch.com\/therauchreview\/articles\/explaining-two-factions-us-political-left\/","title":{"rendered":"Explaining the Two Factions of the U.S. Political Left"},"content":{"rendered":"

When I explain my political perspective to people, there are usually three steps:<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. Explain that the U.S. political center is unconditional support for the Democratic Party (countering the commonly held belief that \u201cleft\u201d only means supporting the Democratic Party)<\/li>\n
  2. Explain my definition of leftism<\/a> that means being to the left of the Democratic Party on economic issues, foreign policy and political strategy<\/li>\n
  3. Explain that the community of self-described leftists is split into two opposing factions with huge policy and strategic disagreements<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    Congratulations for making it to step three! Here I\u2019ll fully flesh out the leftist factions point I touched on briefly in my article about defining leftism.<\/p>\n

    Defining the Two Halves and Their Dynamic: It All Comes Down to Democratic Party Loyalty<\/h2>\n

    In terms of labeling, the issue is difficult to straightforwardly explain because neither half of the left has an official name. Both of them believe they are the real left while the other is the \u201cfake left<\/a>.\u201d Both accuse each other of actually being on the right.<\/p>\n

    Fortunately there are objective facts we can look to for differentiation. One side of the left unconditionally votes for Democrats, at least nationally. The other side of the left, the one I\u2019m on, does not have this voting habit. We strategically withhold our votes from the two-party system. We vote for the Green Party, we vote for left independent candidates, or we don\u2019t vote at all if we don’t see candidates who represent a majority of our positions. In general elections, we do not vote for Democrats or Republicans.<\/p>\n

    There are many differences we\u2019ll get into, but fealty to the Democratic Party has been the core division point for decades. The two factions of the left perpetually debate the impact of Vote Blue No Matter Who-related ideas<\/a> such as whether the Democratic Party is the lesser of two evils, whether a third party can ever win and whether more Democratic Party victories reduce harm in the long term.<\/p>\n

    As you might have guessed by now, my side opposes all of the Vote Blue No Matter Who ideas. We believe the duopoly does far more damage than Republicans alone. We believe Democrat centrists create the conditions for people like Trump. We believe third parties aren\u2019t winning because of the propaganda that sustains the two-party system, not because it\u2019s impossible for them to eventually grow and win. Unlike the other half of the left, we are not afraid of Trump winning again. Our primary focus is on the innocent people who suffer every four years, regardless of which party is in power.<\/p>\n

    Unofficial Labels (I.e. Name Calling)<\/h2>\n

    Because the two sides don\u2019t have official names, they identify each other primarily by insults and pejorative labels. The Democratic Party loyalist half have called my half \u201cThe Dirtbag Left<\/a>,\u201d \u201cThe Dum Dum Left<\/a>,\u201d \u201cthe far left<\/a>\u201d and “the adversarial left<\/a>,” among many other names. Online I\u2019ve seen people from my faction call our rivals \u201cThe Boutique Left<\/a>\u201d and \u201cThe Lockdown Left.\u201d<\/p>\n

    In another article I discussed whether my faction should embrace \u201cthe far left\u201d label<\/a>. Logically speaking, the name is accurate. We are further to the left because our positions demand more aggressive change.<\/p>\n

    As for our rival faction, the only fair non-pejorative name I can think of is \u201cthe progressive left.\u201d \u201cProgressive\u201d has become a sort of synonym for those who believe the Democratic Party can be improved from the inside, through purportedly populist forces such as the Justice Democrats<\/a>. I\u2019ve never heard anyone on my side of the left describe themselves as \u201cprogressive.\u201d My understanding is that progressives believe the Democratic Party can be pushed left, even while progressives refuse to withhold their votes from people like Joe Biden and Kamala Harris.<\/p>\n

    A Quick Breakdown of Policy Agreements and Disagreements<\/h2>\n

    Both factions support:<\/p>\n