No Stupid Questions

One thing which isn't immediately apparent, even to Americans themselves, is that the large American political parties are less equivalent to individual political parties elsewhere, and are closer to "uneasy coalitions", like those found in Europe involving multiple parties trying (and maybe failing) to form a government. That makes it harder to draw broad conclusions like "USA Democrats would be right-of-center" because progressives and "DINOs" (Democrats in name only) within the party would be left-wing or right-wing, respectively. Logically, the same applies to the Republican party, although ranging from right-wing RINOs (Republicans in name only) and "moderate Republicans", to the far-right factions of the party, like neo-Nazis and MAGA.

With that said, what you're describing sounds similar to social democracy. Not to be confused with democratic socialism, which is generally further along to the left than social democracy, with the goal to reform the state (or specifically, individual US States) away from private ownership of the means of production and away from capitalism. When Bernie Sanders of Vermont says "I am a socialist", his positions align well to European social democracy, even though he originally described himself as "democratic socialist".

For an example of democratic socialism activities taking place in the USA, consider that the state of Virginia purchased a 35 mile (56 km) freight railroad west of Alexandria, in order to stop paying rent to privately-owned Norfolk Southern railroad and to enable expansion of the existing state-sponsored Amtrak commuter train service serving that region. The acquisition was both cost-effective and still preserves freight train access, but now it's the state that controls what goes on those rails, much like how they regulate the weight and dimensions of what travels on the public roadways.

But I must reiterate that the precise definition of political ideology is less important than community-building, since that's how ideology becomes reality. If you can find a party whose well-stated values you support, then do what you can to help them achieve their goals. That's going to be more valuable than taxonomy.

Europe is neither a country nor a single culture. The political spectrum isn't the same between Portugal, Sweden, and Poland. Different histories lead to different culture and politics

America needs to move to a multi party system (only possible with direct representation and without regional representation). This would open up so many possibilities for Americans

From what I understand the Democratic Party in the United States is a wide tent that includes people who consider themselves to be democratic socialists all the way to middle of the road, don't rock the boat kind of folks. While the former might feel at home in a European social democratic party or perhaps even a socialist party, the latter would likely find more common ground among the liberal (in the economic meaning of that term) or conservative/christian democratic parties.

The main difference I feel is that most European countries have representative democracies with proportional representation in their parliament. This usually avoids the lost vote effect if you vote for smaller parties. Therefore, what are usually the wings of larger parties in the United States, would be separate parties altogether in most European countries.

Having said that the core of the Democratic Party and the majority of people in power and office from that party over the last decade or two have been centrists at heart. Even when given the opportunity they didn't introduce any true universal healthcare. They didn't address the fact that the minimum wage doesn't reflect the rising costs most people face. They didn't address the rapidly growing inequality. They didn't move the needle on any public transport infrastructure projects. They successfully kept the country running and the economy growing while not seriously changing anything about the underlying structure of the nation. This is evidence enough for me to assert that the Democratic Party would probably be somewhere around Merkel's CDU, Rutte's VVD or perhaps Macron's party (whatever name it's currently going by) in terms of ideology.

European views can be just as progressive or blinkered as anywhere else in the world I guess.

Different European countries have different parties.

Some of them might be "center left" or "center right" and usually both would comfortably fit under the umbrella that is "Democrats" in the US.

The things you want might already exist in your European State of choice. If not, some of it might be covered by any of the large parties. At least partially. Of course you can always vote further left if you want.

I don't think unconditional UBI is a realistic ask atm, but otoh the social net is stronger or much stronger, compared to the US.

All your simple points are actually pretty complex if you look at it from within a country & its existing policies.

I don't want UBI, as that perpetuates money and capitalism, I want universal distribution of resources.

We have many of the items on the list. I think UBI will take some time, and while the current government is still fighting it, we'll have to go back to tax the rich before long.