Tim I think you confuse social democracy and liberalism. As I made clear I am a Nordic social democrat and not an American liberal which you see to mistake me for.

I wrote this response, as I think this is a very common confusion that deserves a longer answer and which may be of more general interest:

https://erik-engheim.medium.com/how-do-you-know-social-democracy-cant-work-ac412e72fa4e

What you are basically arguing against is corporate democrats, and their shoulder rubbing with wall street, but very few if anyone calling themselves a leftist in the US identify with these.

Certainly not in my home country Norway. The US has a limited democracy allowing only two parties. That forces leftists in America to vote on corporate democrats whether they like it or not. They are simply the lesser of two evils. That does not necessarily mean that they endorse their world view.

NOTE: I know in theory the US allows more than two parties. But the whole system is setup to make it effectively impossible for a 3rd party to ever succeed or have any influence. Hence only the utterly naive would vote on a third party in the US system.

Until the US implements proportonal voting or ranked voting, it must be regarded as a de-facto two-party system.