Last night Milwaukee Bucks star Giannis Antetokounmpo “painted his masterpiece” on the basketball court – 50 points, 14 rebounds, 5 blocked shots. His “for the ages” performance took the Bucks across the finishing line, winning their first NBA championship in 50 years.

Finishing up Pulitzer Prize winning “Wilmington’s Lie: The murderous Coup of 1898 and The Rise of White Supremacy,” authored by David Zucchino. It reminds me that the white Southern ruling elite reclaimed its position of exploitative and racist dominance in the states of the former Confederacy by eagerly and vengefully embracing Mao’s dictum before it was a dictum: Political power grows out of the barrel of a gun.

Here is a struggle that should concentrate the mind and energy of the coalition – including the left – that elected Biden-Harris. The passage of this budget plan was a first step in an effort to restructure the role of the federal government and set into motion a new form of people’s governance. Next comes the budget reconciliation process in which each item and the price tag attached to it will be contested and voted on.

This struggle shouldn’t be confined to the corridors of Congress. Tens of millions should be informed of what is at stake and encouraged to take part in this great policy debate. Republicans and their media network will surely spread distortions and lies about what is at stake. Our side should counter their lies as well as spell out the significance of this battle – its meaning to those who’ve been left out, discriminated against, ignored, slandered, abused, and exploited.

After all, the outcome of this struggle will go a long way in either beginning the burial of Reaganism, Trumpism, and neoliberalism or setting the country on a new path in which people and nature are the overarching priorities of government and society.

Every time a candidate of the left loses in a Democratic Party primary to another candidate (usually a liberal), her or his supporters are quick to cry “Foul Ball” and rail against “The Establishment.” Never is the idea entertained that maybe the other candidate had greater appeal, maybe a better game plan and maybe a more accurate read of voter sentiments. To ignore the latter interpretation, to dismiss it out of hand isn’t smart politics. It may feel righteous, but I doubt it will serve the left well in the longer run.

Lift the Blockade on Cuba and send humanitarian aid, Joe. That’s what neighbors do (or should do). Don’t embrace the sound bites of your right wing opponents or voices in your own party that would like you to tighten the screws on Cuba, not to mention China. A majoritarian audience awaits a new foreign policy that accents peace, diplomacy, mutuality, and the imperative of a global response to the existential threats – climate disruption, pandemics, nuclear proliferation and war – of our times. Do the right thing!