The pendulum has officially...

...swung, and it's about time.

For all the political and economic uncertainties about health reform, at least one thing seems clear: The bill that President Obama signed on Tuesday is the federal government’s biggest attack on economic inequality since inequality began rising more than three decades ago.

Over most of that period, government policy and market forces have been moving in the same direction, both increasing inequality. The pretax incomes of the wealthy have soared since the late 1970s, while their tax rates have fallen more than rates for the middle class and poor.

Nearly every major aspect of the health bill pushes in the other direction. This fact helps explain why Mr. Obama was willing to spend so much political capital on the issue, even though it did not appear to be his top priority as a presidential candidate. Beyond the health reform’s effect on the medical system, it is the centerpiece of his deliberate effort to end what historians have called the age of Reagan.

I grew up in the 1970s. I graduated from high school in 1976 and college in 1980. It was not a prosperous time. And, looking back on it, the whole New Deal-Great Society Era was getting a little long in the tooth. Governments everywhere seemed too big, too intrusive, too stifling. And Jimmy Carter, who could arguably be thought of as one of the greatest ex-presidents, was just seen as hopelessly ineffectual. The times were ripe for a Ronald Reagan.

Unlike today, the conservatives had all the energy and ideas. Liberals and liberalism seemed stale and exhausted. It was definitely time to give the Republicans a turn at governing. So the Gipper came into office and cut taxes, strengthened the military, and generally unleashed an optimistic spirit that swept in a new age of prosperity. The '80s and '90s were a heady time.

But the Reagan Era became long in the tooth, as well. And in 2000, the nation elected (sort of) the Republican version of Jimmy Carter. But George W. Bush was not nearly as intelligent or large-spirited as the 39th president. His attempt to recreate the '80s with tax cuts for the rich fell flat; the budget surplus was squandered and the hoped-for prosperity never arrived. Things only went downhill from there.

By the end of the Bush presidency it became apparent that the laissez-faire policies of the Republicans had, among other things, produced an out-of-control Wall Street and a dysfunctional health care system. In both, the market had evolved to serve only a select few while literally harming the vast majority of Americans. The GOP was now the tired party; their ideas were no longer fresh or compelling. The time had come once again for the pendulum to swing.

Now that President Obama has belled the health insurance industry cat, it's time to turn our attention to the financial sector. After that, who knows? Immigration, energy, education, and, oh yeah, that pesky national debt problem we've let fester.

There's a lot of work to do. And it appears that there's only one serious political party left in America to do it. The Republicans are still stuck in the 1970s and still worshipping at the shrine of St. Ronald. (I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but He's not coming back.)

It might actually be worse than all that; today's GOP has evolved into a reactionary party of war-mongering neocons, extreme economic libertarians, and Evangelical Christians who pine for the days of Ozzie and Harriet. (I'm not even sure Reagan would recognize this crowd.) Their leaders are a couple of blowhards named Glenn and Rush. Never mind the '80s; this cast of characters wants to return to the 1920s, or even the 19th century--before that wild-eyed socialist Teddy Roosevelt began causing trouble! (You remember him; he's one of those guys with his face on the side of that mountain in South Dakota.)

So the pendulum has swung, all right. And I think it's going to swing some more. And Obama and the Democrats are going to be the ones doing the swinging. The other guys better duck.