Your close. Let me elaborate.
For those of us who live in America here is the Republican platform
https://www.gop.com/platform/.
Here is the democrat platform.
https://www.democrats.org/party-platformIn America, the Republicans sit on the right side of the aisle and Democrats sit on the left side of the aisle in case you didn't know that.
Here is the summary of the Democrat platform.
http://www.ontheissues.org/Archive/2012_DNC_Platform_Democratic_Party.htmHere is a summary of the republican platform.
http://www.ontheissues.org/Archive/2012_RNC_Platform_Republican_Party.htm As you can see the Democrats support more (not total) socialism in the economy. They want welfare, medicare, obamacare, medicaid, high corporate tax rates and entitlements all of which INCREASE the governments control of the economy.
They also support REMOVING the government from people's personal lives. They also support the US responsibly withdrawing from Iraq and Afghanistan which may be an imperialist issue or it may be a safety issue.
The Democrats are indeed opposed to Capitalism and (perceived) imperialism but sometimes they want more structural oppression (like the ACA) and sometimes they want less. That is the left.
The Republicans on the other hand want more (not total) capitalism in the economy. They don't like welfare, medicare, obamacare, medicaid, high corporate tax rates and entitlements which INCREASE government control of the economy. The republican economic approach can be best summarized as "laissez faire", literally meaning "leave it alone."
On domestic issues the Republicans support MORE government control of people's personal lives. They used to stand against gay marriage. They wish to limit late-term abortions. Republicans also extremely hate Russian Imperialism especially with the events of Donbass.
The Republicans are opposed to Socialism and foriegn Imperialism but sometimes they want more structural oppression (like the government surveillance programs) and sometimes they want less (like destroying entitlements and the ACA).
TLDR: You, knyte, make it seem like you have to be a Communist or a Socialist to be part of the left and you need to be a Fascist to be part of the left. The facts are that MORE people are in the middle(liberals, conservatives) of the political divide than out at the ends(Communist/Socialist, Fascist). The facts are that nobody actually supports Colonialism/Imperialism anymore in the west because it is so unpopular. You will only find that in Russia (a leftist country).
Edited 6/30/2015 01:56:12