Ronald Reagan was the first president in the modern age who truly understood the importance of television cameras and snappy one-liners to advance his political agenda. This wasn't that big a surprise, seeing as how he had been a minor Hollywood movie actor and learned the impact of visual presence on the screen at an early age. He used this to great advantage both in his campaigns for president and, once he won, in the Oval Office itself. And one of his best lines was a take on a very old joke. Reagan was fond of summarizing his antipathy towards "big government" with the following quip: "The nine most terrifying words in the English language are: 'I'm from the government and I'm here to help!'"

As mentioned, this wasn't an original thought, it was actually the punchline to a common joke: "What are the three biggest lies in Western civilization?" The first two answers (in case there's anyone out there who hasn't heard this before) are: "I'll respect you in the morning," and: "The check is in the mail." That last one shows how dated the joke truly is, as younger readers might have to have the concept of "check" (if not "mail") explained to them.

All kidding aside, however, Reagan used the one-liner to advocate for shrinking the federal government as much as possible (even though it actually grew under his watch), restricting what it could and could not do, and getting the public behind supporting this limited-government agenda. He was most successful at the last of those, and we've been living with the hangover ever since. First there were "centrist" Democrats like Bill Clinton who infamously signed a bill declaring it would: "end welfare as we know it." Then there were less-centrist but still timid Democrats like Barack Obama, who knew Reaganism was wrong but didn't have the political willpower to force any drastic changes (Obamacare was indeed historic, but it fell far short of what would have been truly revolutionary -- some form of single-payer).

Today, however, might just be seen as the dawn of a new era in American politics, and the death knell of Reaganism. Because there was a perfect storm of a worldwide pandemic, an economic shutdown which led to devastating circumstances for tens of millions, and a huge failure of the federal government to adequately step up to the plate, the American public seems much more willing to now embrace the polar opposite of Reaganism: a robust federal government that does indeed try to actively help average middle-class families.

This is a historic and monumental shift. And it began in the wee hours of this morning, when the Senate passed the first hurdle towards a budget reconciliation bill that, in the words of its author Senator Bernie Sanders: "will be the most consequential piece of legislation for working people, the elderly, the children, the sick and the poor since F.D.R. and the New Deal of the 1930s." And that's not really even an overstatement of the facts. Reaganism is on life support and this bill aims to pull the plug.

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer circulated a memo which lays out exactly what this bill will accomplish. It is a breathtaking and extensive list, by any measure. Although his memo runs to nine pages, the first four are the crucial ones. They contain a committee-by-committee breakdown of what should be in the final bill. Two committees in particular are going to get to direct the most radical government investment effort since F.D.R.: the Finance Committee and the Heath, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee.

Here is just a subset of the Finance Committee's bullet points:

• Paid Family and Medical Leave
• ACA expansion extension and filling the Medicaid Coverage Gap
• Expanding Medicare to include dental, vision, hearing benefits and lowering the eligibility age
• Child Tax Credit/EITC/CDCTC extension
• Long-term care for seniors and persons with disabilities (HCBS)
• Clean energy, manufacturing, and transportation tax incentives
• Pro-worker incentives and worker support

And here is some of what the HELP Committee will tackle:

• Universal Pre-K for 3 and 4-year olds
• Child care for working families
• Tuition-free community college
• Increase the maximum Pell grant award
• School infrastructure, student success grants, and educator investments

And finally, here is a list of some of the other ambitious programs the bill will provide, from all the other committees:

• Agriculture conservation, drought, and forestry programs to help reduce carbon emissions and prevent wildfires
• Rural development and rural co-op clean energy investments
• Civilian Climate Corps funding
• Improve housing affordability and equity by providing down payment assistance, rental assistance, and other homeownership initiatives
• Consumer rebates to weatherize and electrify homes
• Financing for domestic manufacturing of clean energy and auto supply chain technologies
• Clean Energy Technology Accelerator that would fund low-income solar and other climate-friendly technologies
• Investments in clean vehicles
• Electrifying the federal vehicle fleet (USPS and Non-USPS)
• Lawful permanent status for qualified immigrants
• Investments in smart and effective border security measures

As I said, simply breathtaking in its scope. Any one of these getting passed in a standalone bill would have been a major accomplishment. Any random five of them passed in a bill together would have earned the term "historic." And the ones I have listed here are merely a subset of the total outlined in the memo.

Bernie's right. This bill represents a sea-change in what the federal government does for average people. It will transform millions of lives, if passed in any form which even resembles this outline. It will change the future for the better for almost everyone, in multiple different ways. It will show the American people that the federal government (and Democrats in Congress) still can effect transformative change. And it will drive a stake through the heart of Reaganism -- at least in the minds of a vast majority of the population. Arguing in the abstract about "socialism" is one thing, but arguing that you don't deserve free community college or free pre-K for your child is a whole different ball of wax -- and that's the political argument we're about to have.

Of course, the final bill will have changes. That's the nature of the sausage-making. Prima donna Democrats in the Senate will hold out until they can brag "I stood up to the liberal wing!" to get re-elected, and then they will vote for the bill. Amusingly, one particular item in the initial memo seemed to be an initial offer in this game, to Senator Joe Manchin of West Virginia: "Appalachian Regional Commission and Economic Development Administration economic development and transition programs." But even if most of the agenda items make it through, it'll still be transformative and extremely progressive.

This battle will be joined immediately after the Senate returns from its August break which (due to the bipartisan infrastructure bill wasting so much time) will only be a paltry two weeks instead of the usual month. So September is going to see some serious horse-trading and bargaining within all the committees. There is also the hurdle of getting the Senate parliamentarian to approve all of these programs, and the hurdle of which taxes to raise to pay for it all (and Democrats have been swearing the whole thing will be paid for, so this is going to be critical).

But occasionally in Washington bills take on a life of their own. They get so much momentum behind them that they become, in essence, too big to fail. This bill has that feel. Both factions of the Democratic Party know full well it is in their interests to pass both the bipartisan infrastructure bill and Bernie's bill. One or the other won't do -- both are necessary. If the Democrats can put both of them on President Biden's desk for a signature, then the party will have an impressive platform to run on in both 2022 and 2024 ("Democrats get stuff done!"). If they fail to pass these bills, they will have precisely nothing to run on for the midterms and will likely be slaughtered, leaving both chambers on Capitol Hill in Republican hands. So these bills aren't just critical for the public and country at large, they are also crucial for the Democratic Party itself. That's what I mean by so much momentum as to be too big to fail.

If these bills pass largely unscathed, then the public will begin to benefit from all the new programs over the course of the next year. If Democrats do a good enough sales job on it (reminding everyone over and over again: "Democrats did this by ourselves, with no Republican help!"), then they stand a chance of bucking the historical trend of losing congressional seats in the midterms.

But there will be a larger and longer-term benefit as well. Reaganism will finally be dead. Once middle-class Americans start to enjoy these benefits, it will become almost impossible for the Republicans to take them away because there would just be too big a political backlash. People will get comfortable with the idea of the federal government actually doing more for families like theirs than just ignoring them and their plight. Which is exactly what happened under F.D.R., and could indeed happen over the course of the next year or so.

Reaganism might be finally and completely laid to rest. That would be a happy day for America. I'd be so happy, in fact, I'd be metaphorically dancing on Reaganism's grave.

[Program Note: Today was spent waiting for a part to arrive at the local auto parts store (alternator, for those who care about these things). So I was able to write this article. Tomorrow, however, will almost certainly be too busy for posting, so I just wanted to warn everyone and apologize in advance. And fear not: Friday's column should still be on track, no matter what.]

-- Chris Weigant

Follow Chris on Twitter: @ChrisWeigant