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Neoconservative. Socialist. Reactionary. Communist. Conservative. Liberal.
What do all of these words have to do with each other? They are all used to insult and denigrate other people, and they are all used incorrectly.
For example, to read some polemics, "Socialist," "Communist," and "Liberal" are all interchangeable. That is incorrect, of course, and conflating the three renders each word essentially meaningless.
In reality, a socialist is someone who wants a measure of state ownership in a given industry or in industry as a whole. A communist is someone who wants private ownership abolished. And liberal? It depends on what you're liberal about. A social liberal is someone who espouses a political philosophy of tolerance and civil liberties. A market liberal is someone who favors an economic theory of laissez-faire and self-regulating markets -- not really what you were thinking when I said "liberal," was it? Someone who considers himself conservative in all respects might be very surprised to find out that at least this one aspect of his philosophy is liberal.
Then, of course, you have some of the newer political philosophies, such as neoconservatism: A philosophy of using military and economic might to bring about changes perceived to be beneficial to foreign interests, such a democratization. Hard to describe that as really conservative, yet critics and believers alike conflate the two.
Choosing and using the correct language not only helps you debate issues on their merits, it prevents you from being perceived as an idiot. For instance, on most social and environmental issues, I could accurately be described as a liberal, but it would be nonsensical to describe me as a communist in either context. If I asked someone to describe my position on deforestation, and he replied with, "You're a communist," I would be forced to conclude he was ignorant of the meaning of the word, and not worth debating.