Some left-wing pundits who see holes in the Warren plan nonetheless support it, because it will inspire the base and move the national conversation in the right direction. It isn’t going to become law in the foreseeable future, anyway. What harm can it do?
A lot, actually:
- If completely revamping approximately 17 percent of our GDP is the Democrats’ position in 2020, that is what the election will be about, not Trump’s innumerable failures and weaknesses. The Warren plan will thus make it much more likely that Trump will prevail in an election we cannot afford to lose.
- Making promises on which you cannot deliver will inevitably result in further division, cynicism, anger, and frustration within the Democratic Party and throughout the country. We already have one Freedom Caucus; we don’t need a left-wing version.
- Every minute President Warren spends chasing an impossible dream is a minute she could be using doing something that will actually help the American people.
In short, we may at some level admire Don Quixote, but he is a fictional character, not our head of state. Electing him would be a mistake.