From the time Joe Biden was a toddler until his mid-30s, wages in the country grew, and the wealth created by growth in the economy was shared by everyone. But by the time Biden hit 40, everything had begun to change. The incomes of those at the top grew strongly, while the wages of middle-class and poor people hit a wall. Labor’s power decreased, and monopoly power increased. It became harder to organize workers, harder to start new businesses, and easier for capital to organize. It was the early 1980s, and Ronald Reagan was president.

I have a dream that in the first 100 days of his presidency, Biden will lay out these stark facts and declare it his mission to bring growth and equity to this country—and to destroy the chasm that now exists between growth and shared prosperity. He will say, “Shared prosperity is the only kind worth fighting for, because the prosperity of those at the top has been made possible by massive, unprecedented wage theft, unfair competition, and the purchase of our politicians by powerful interests. The results have been increased inequality, decreased dignity, more instability, and the corporate takeover of our sacred democracy. As your president, I will make it my solemn responsibility to free America from the vice grip of corporate monopolization.”

In that speech, Biden will announce that the industrial policy of the United States will be to proactively support labor at every turn and to crush monopolies. He will direct the Department of Justice to rip up the antitrust guidelines written by Reagan and those who followed him—George H.W. Bush, Bill Clinton, George W. Bush, and Barack Obama, all of whom framed their industrial policy in talk of “consumer welfare.”

The Biden guidelines will declare instead that the purpose of antitrust law is to protect democracy and to ensure a rough equality among citizens. Barry Lynn, author of the recent book Liberty From All Masters, argues that mere technical fixes will not be sufficient; we have to change the way the government approaches the whole problem of economic power in society. The biggest thing Biden could do, according to Lynn: “Get rid of the Reagan-era consumer welfare pro-monopoly philosophy. There is nothing more important than saying the purpose of the law IS to protect democracy and liberty, not to protect consumer welfare.”

Biden can roar into the White House with the vision laid out for him by Ted Kaufman, one of his transition team cochairs, who praised Franklin Roosevelt’s aggressive approach to monopoly abuses, saying, “FDR’s leadership brought us back into economic balance. There is no reason, through dedication and hard work, we cannot do the same.” From Kaufman’s lips to Biden’s ear.