I see a very different picture to the one you are painting, and that is why I asked you to define what you meant by leftist and progressive.

To be on the left has to do with the economic system of the country, so, for instance, I'm all for a mixed economy - or demographic socialism as Bernie Sanders wrongly called it. I'm accustomed to living in countries with mixed economies. Currently, this is Ireland, before that Portugal, and before that Germany.

I found the USA quite harsh in its lack of economic support for basic services. It's where the tax money should have gone, but it goes to the military instead.

Progressives, on the other hand, (in the USA, that is) are about civil rights, and my opinion of that is that everybody in the USA does have sufficient civil rights.

I think the real issue in the US is that there is a type of socialization that goes one that makes many have very unrealistic expectations in life, and then when it doesn't happen, they look to blame the system. I say that, from the point of view of having lived in many countries, and the USA has a very, very different culture to other countries

Yes, ordinary people are preoccupied with survival - that's why they have no time to climb on the 'civil rights' issue. :)