https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thought-terminating_cliché
As the party fielded more and more candidates who championed economic-right policies in order to attract corporate donations, the idea of “purity testing” was turned into a stock phrase to attack critics using labels, instead of justifying it on its own terms.
Phrases like “moral purity” now serve two functions: firstly, to dismiss criticisms from the Left wholesale without having to discuss them directly, and secondly, to blame them for the rise of fascism.
In theory it was also supposed to serve a third function of bullying the Left into voting Democrat, but that didn’t work.
That’s because “the dems” aren’t leftists. It doesn’t matter if we subdivide or not, your “leftist” party is a moderate center party drifting right year after year.
Of course you’re going to have trouble gathering leftist support.
You still need a majority to create policy, everyone 50% +1 is your ally, or you’re not part of the conversation. You don’t have to like them, but until we can get a majority of support for true leftist ideas, you have to work with people you disagree with, or you don’t actually believe in democracy.
Does anybody “work with” us on the left or are we the only ones that need to sustain this fallacy and always compromise, to the point we no longer are even being represented?
Unfortunately, this “working with” is always a one-way street. Never do centrists say, “well, we just have to support the progressive cause to maintain party loyalty.”