I would like to propose that we abandon several commonly-used political words. It's not because these words are beyond the pale; it's because they have lost all meaning in popular discourse. In non-scholarly settings, no one truly knows what they mean. Here are four examples:
Neoliberal. It doesn't help that there are two established versions of this word to begin with: the Washington Consensus version and the Charles Peters version. It hardly matters, though, since almost no one in popular conversation knows either one. Instead, it's become little more than a vague accusation made against liberals who have insufficiently leftist economic opinions.
Socialism. It's hard to think of any serious definition of socialism that doesn't include state ownership of major industries like banking, steelmaking, oil extraction, and so forth. It doesn't mean that the government merely gives money to people for things like housing and medical care. That's social democracy. Republicans have always papered over this distinction, trying to tar virtually every liberal program as socialist. More recently, though, even progressives seem confused about this point.
Fascist. Even among scholars there's disagreement about exactly what fascism is. Among everyone else, it seems to mean nothing more than some kind of meanspirited attitude trumpeted by a Republican politician. That's really not very helpful. Not every hardcore conservative represents the second coming of Mussolini.
Cancel culture. There are at least two different versions of this. The first is used by progressives against other progressives and is basically an offshoot of callout culture. The goal is to shame the victim into apologizing and changing his tune. The second version is used by progressives against conservatives and represents no kind of "culture" at all. It's merely routine political disagreement. Occasionally it goes farther than it should and becomes a rallying cry on Fox News. But it's only the first version—a purely internecine spat among progressives—that has any real meaning.