lt is political season here in the United States and the most interesting candidates are making poli

lt is political season here in the United States and the most interesting candidates are making policy proposals that sound fairly far fetched. Elizabeth Warren wants to forgive everyone's college debt and make public higher ed free. Andrew Yang wants to forward a freedom divident to every American of $1,000 every month. Gov. Jay Inslee thinks we reallly can get out of climate change.

A common critique of proposals like these is that they are pipe dreams, but they aren't. They are starting point. It's intellectually dishonest to attack a sweeping policy idea exactly as stated. The honest way to engage with it is as a broad idea, a goal, that if we became galvanized behind would go through the legislative process and inevitably evolve, just as Obamacare did. Obamacare came out still Obamacare even though it wasn't really what Obama as candidate campaigned on.

Candidates like John Delaney are so dangerous because they really do see their limited imaginations as a virtue. Great, sweeping programs have been accomplished in this country and they tend to be achieved by people who start big and see where it goes. A person like John Delaney really can't even fathom it. Don't vote for a vapid dreamer, but vote for someone with a track record and a vision, even if you can't see it.

The specifics are much less important than the will and the intention.