American Left

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The American Left refers to the groups or ideas on the left of the political spectrum in the United States—predominantly the broader democratic socialist and social democratic currents as well as communist, left-liberal, and various socialist ideological sects. It is occasionally used as a shorthand for the Democratic Party and groups aligned with the Democratic Party. At other times, it refers to groups that seek or have sought egalitarian changes in the economic, political, and cultural institutions of the United States. Various left subgroups with a national scope are active. Liberals and progressives believe that equality can be accommodated into existing capitalist structures, but they differ in their criticism of capitalism and on the extent of reform and the welfare state. Anarchists, communists, and socialists with international imperatives are also present within this macro-movement. Many communes and egalitarian communities have existed in the United States as a sub-category of the broader intentional community movement, some of which were based on utopian socialist ideals. The left has been involved in both the Democratic and Republican parties at different times, having originated in the Democratic-Republican Party as opposed to the Federalist Party.