Even though it is a Monday, I find myself in an optimistic mood. Maybe it's just the end of the political Silly Season, but I found myself wondering what would happen if the Democrats truly ran the tables in the midterms and wound up still in control of the House of Representatives and with at least 52 senators in the Senate (so Kyrsten Sinema and Joe Manchin could be politely told to go fly a kite by Chuck Schumer and the rest of the Democrats). What could they get done? What would their agenda look like, with a Democrat in the White House ready to sign whatever passed? I know, I know, it is still the longest of longshots -- Democrats will likely still lose the House even if they manage to expand their majority in the Senate -- but like I said, I'm feeling optimistic, so let's just assume it does somehow come to pass.

Of course, it goes without mention that the first thing they would absolutely have to accomplish would be putting a stake through the heart of the legislative filibuster. If Republicans ever gain control of both houses of Congress and the presidency, they're going to get rid of it so fast it'll make your head spin, so why not get proactive and get the Democratic agenda passed before that happens?

There's no guarantee that a broad change in the rules to jettison the filibuster would happen, of course. It might not just be Sinema and Manchin who would balk at going that far, to put it another way. The only test votes on it I recall from the current Senate were on very specific constitutional rights -- like renewing the Voting Rights Act or codifying the protections of Roe v. Wade. Some Democratic senators might acquiesce to making a new carveout in the filibuster rules when basic constitutional rights are in danger, but still be wary of removing it for all legislation. But for the sake of argument here, let's assume that they could get 51 votes to abolish the filibuster forever. What would they do next?

Well, pretty much what they've tried to do already, for the most part. Democrats would indeed pass an updated Voting Rights Act. They would indeed create a national right to abortion. They could also pass the companion bill to the voting rights one that would reform state-level election laws across the country, to fight back against rogue Republican officials and voter-intimidation and voter-suppression laws in red states. If it doesn't happen in the lame-duck Congress, Democrats could also update the Electoral Count Act to remove the possibility that what Donald Trump wanted to have happen on January 6th could ever happen in the future. They could also codify rights to: gay marriage, interracial marriage, contraception, or even the basic right of privacy; to fend off any future Supreme Court rollbacks of rights people have enjoyed for half a century or more.

There are some longstanding Democratic goals that could pass, although none of these is guaranteed -- even without Manchin and Sinema, Democrats would still need to corral all 50 of the other votes to get anything through, and not every Senate Democrat is completely on board with everything on the Democratic agenda. Even so, the possibility exists for finally passing a federal $15 minimum wage. And even if they couldn't agree on anything else on immigration, Democrats could at the very least codify the DACA program to prevent it from being halted by any future Republican president (and to finally give all those covered by it a permanent path to citizenship).

Democrats could revisit and beef up things they've already accomplished with President Biden, like significantly broadening the ability of Medicare to negotiate prescription drug prices (instead of the paltry pilot program they did pass). They could pass a lot stricter gun safety laws than what the Republicans agreed to, as well. Again, there'd be no guarantee these would get the required 51 votes, but it certainly would be worth trying.

One huge area of the Democratic agenda contains all the things that Joe Manchin wouldn't agree to in the original Build Back Better bill. This is an extensive list and would be the biggest accomplishment from any Congress since F.D.R.'s New Deal. Here are some of the items that were left on Manchin's cutting-room floor:

• Two free years of pre-K school.
• Free or subsidized child care for parents of very young children, capped at 7 percent of income.
• Two tuition-free years of community college.
• Free or subsidized elder care.
• Revive the beefed-up child tax credit that sent parents a check every month and cut childhood poverty by 40 percent.
• Add coverage for hearing aids, vision care, and dental care to Medicare.
• A $35-per-month cap on out-of-pocket insulin costs for everyone.
• A minimum of four weeks paid family leave for all workers.
• One million new affordable housing units, as well as modernizing existing public housing.

All of this would be paid for by revisiting all the Trump tax cuts and throwing out the ones most egregiously slanted to upper-income earners and gigantic corporations.

One interesting side effect of jettisoning the filibuster would be the fact that Democrats wouldn't have to stuff everything into one giant omnibus bill any more. This was necessary, under the "budget reconciliation" loophole in the filibuster rules, but would be a moot point if all bills only needed a simple majority to pass. This would also eliminate the "Byrd bath" and having to pay any attention to what the parliamentarian thought about things. So individual bills could be tailored for similar subjects, for instance a single bill which would: provide free pre-K, subsidize child care, expand the child tax credit, provide family leave, and throw in tuition-free community college too -- and call it something like the "Helping Families Act" or something equally as family- and child-centered.

All of this is in no way a definitive list, of course. There are all kinds of other things Democrats could and should address. Descheduling cannabis and finally ending the federal War On Weed, for one. Or granting statehood to Washington D.C. and Puerto Rico. If Democrats ever felt like they were running out of ideas, all they'd have to do is ask Bernie Sanders or Elizabeth Warren or maybe Sherrod Brown what they'd also like to see passed. Maybe without Republicans voting against it they could pass a law to scrutinize gas companies for price-gouging just as a regular way of doing business, perhaps? The horizons for possibilities would be wide indeed.

Democratic voters are used to being disappointed, after voting in majorities to Congress. This time around could be different. This time around a Democratic Congress could actually be transformative. They could provide solid examples of how they are fighting for average Americans, instead of all the endless promises and big talk on the campaign trail (from both parties, it bears pointing out). Voters are used to unkept promises, so this would be a welcome change.

So that's my optimistic Monday rundown on what things could be like next year, if Democrats manage to beat all historical expectations and hold onto Congress -- and actually expand their razor-thin margin in the Senate to the point where they could absolutely ignore Joe Manchin and Kyrsten Sinema for the next two years.

Just think of what the 2024 campaign would be like, if Democrats managed to get even the lion's share of the things listed here onto President Joe Biden's desk. Just think of how many things Democratic candidates would have to brag about -- "We made your lives better and the Republicans fought us every step of the way!" That's an optimistic way to start a week, right?

-- Chris Weigant

Follow Chris on Twitter: @ChrisWeigant