McCarron had me worried with this. Was he to contemn the weakness of democracy in implementing ideal solutions?

[T]he specific and difficult choices that inevitably will have to be made [in Chi-area mass transportation] choices between bullet trains to St. Louis, say, or express elevated trains to O’Hare International Airport are left to the future push-and-pull of politics and economics. [italics added]

But right away this:

That is as it should be. [Phew!]

Followed immediately, however, with something of a puzzler:

Ideals stand the test of time far better than the means we choose to achieve them. [Huh?] Better to dream no little dreams. [Main point, a good one.] Then make sure our actual plans the ones that cause bulldozers to roll and billions to be spent are in tune with the resources of today [yes] and the technology of tomorrow. [Huh? How do we do that]

Here’s one vote, then, for a few big dreams . . . followed by a lot of smaller, cost-effective plans.

Let’s do it.