I think this is spot on.

The way people in the US behave resembles atheists more than they resemble any religion. Generally people don't want to defund the police, including African Americans (people want police to be more accountable and empathetic), and really no mainstream politician is very close to socialism in this country. But its just the labels that stick.

The term "socialism" is thrown around a lot but I think it is most often used as a shorthand way to describe the desire to use the power of the federal government to address issues as contrasted with the desire to avoid using the power of the federal government. Broadly speaking "big government" approaches vs "limited government/free market" approaches, specifically with respect to the federal government.

In generally I think state government solutions don't receive enough attention in policy discussions.

This is so important. Symbols matter and these words carry too much symbolic baggage.

A rose by any other name would smell as sweet, so let us just rename the rose and get on with it.