Political spectrums are always relative, and the spectrum of one country does not align well with the spectrum of another. So while the policies you mention (s

Political spectrums are always relative, and the spectrum of one country does not align well with the spectrum of another. So while the policies you mention (social justice etc) might be main stream in one country, they can be far left in another. Left-wing politics in the US would be centrist in much of Europe and positively right wing in say Cuba or Venezuela. But you are not alone in your false equivalence - take for example the way many Cuban exiles in florida equate the democratic party with the communist Cuban regime (both described as left wing in their native countries.) So comparing policies and parties from two different countries, and trying to use the same "scale" (left and right) is prone to error. An error well understood, and exploited, by politicians everywhere.