President Biden vigorously placed the existential challenge to democracy and democratic rights, to the rule of law and equality, to one person one vote, and to favoring the few at the expense of the many before the American people last night. It was a speech that spoke to this dire moment in our country’s life. He called out authoritarian-fascist-racist extremists – Trump, Maga supporters, sections of the Republican Party, election deniers, thugs, and more – that are busy NOW attempting to expunge democratic rule and everything else that is decent and just in our national life.

It was, in my opinion, his best speech ever, although I do wonder – weirdly enough – if he gave enough emphasis to the urgency of voting in November. That said, I suspect it played well in swing districts.

Lastly, it was a call for the rest of us that hold democracy, equality, planetary sustainability, and social progress dear to find a niche – big or small – to assist in the mobilization of voters and elect Democrats to Congress this fall.

Biden’s decision to forgive a portion of student debt should defended as well as welcomed. It’s not enough to say, “Good start, Joe. But not enough. Let’s now move to forgive all student debt.” Sounds good, I suppose, but isn’t the more immediate challenge to counter the vicious attacks from the MAGA crowd and the Republican Party to Biden’s announcement.

And we can begin by reminding voters that the executive order will relieve some of the unconscionable debt burden that struggling working class students and their families, Republican, Independent, and Democrat, pile up, while attending college. We should also remind voters that President Trump and the GOP majority in Congress had no hesitation in handing out trillions of dollars in tax cuts to the wealthiest families and corporations in the country. For doing what – nothing!

In these circumstances, simply upping the ante and insisting on full debt relief is in some ways a cop out. It side steps the main ground on which Trump and the MAGA crowd are making their fight against Biden’s executive order lowering student debt relief.

Reading the obituary of Mikhail Gorbachev in the NYT yesterday reminded me of how exciting it was when Gorbachev, the newly elected General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, stepped on the international stage. In contrast to his earlier predecessors, he was full of energy, unscripted, and relatively young. He offered fresh ideas to democratize and restructure socialism, while unapologetically rejecting dogma, wrapped up in the language of Marxism Leninism.

He also challenged the logic of the Cold War, insisting on the existential imperative of peace and disarmament and an end to political blocs. “Nuclear war,” he said, ” should never be fought and can never be won.”He didn’t achieve his goals, but I attach the main responsibilty for this failure – less to Gorbachev – and more to the the dogmatic and self serving resistance of much of the Soviet Party leadership at various levels to social renovation and democratization, not to mention U.S. leaders who were resolute in their determination to “win” the Cold Wa

At the time of the implosion of the Soviet Union, I didn’t think along these lines. But it wasn’t too long after that world shaking event (and the bitter split in the Communist Party here in December 1991) that I began a rethink of the Soviet experience, marxism, and the party’s politics, culture, and history.

If I were asked to sum up what conclusions I reached it would be this: our theory – Marxism-Leninism – was too rigid and formulaic, our analysis too loaded with questionable assumptions and wishful thinking, our methodology too undialectical, our structure hyper centralized, and our politics drifting from political realities. Thus, standing in place didn’t seem like a viable option. Not everyone agreed, but that is another story for another time.

What should be the immediate and main reaction of democratic and progressive people to recent Democratic legislative victories and executive actions by Biden administration – the latest is last week’s executive order to forgive a portion of student debt? Seems simple enough to me – welcome these measures and contrast them with the policies of the GOP, while at the same time utilizing these victories to mobilize old and newly registered voters to elect Democrats – even the worst of them – on election day.

To yield the cultural struggle – abortion, homosexuality, transgender rights, multiculturalism, racism, patriotism, and so on – to the Republican Party and MAGA movement in favor of an election strategy that singularly focuses on “economic” issues will likely backfire. In contrast, a far better strategy is to organically blend the two together. The conservative Andrew Breitbart’s assertion that “politics is downstream from culture,” (meaning that to win elections, it is necessary to first shape cultural perceptions of voters) may be overdrawn some, but not by much.