Well what I see from the other side of the Atlantic is that the Democratic Party largely see themselves as left of centr
Liberalism is, always has been and always will be, a right-wing ideology. There has never been anything "leftist" about it in any way whatsoever.
No ifs.
No ands.
No buts.
Are we clear on this?
Like you, I blame the Democratic party for not having a more left wing agenda
Why would I blame a political party - who, like all political parties, only exist to concentrate political power in the hands of an elite - for not doing that which they were never designed to do?
I might just as well blame a train for not stopping at the moon.
The rest of government is captured by the very right wing Republican party,
"Captured," you say? The US government was created by elites for elites... so how exactly can elites "capture" something that was only ever intended to serve them?