Moderate Democrats like Former Rep. Abigail Spanberger in Virginia and Rep. Mikie Sherrill in New Jersey are running for governor on a message that resonates: tackle affordability, fix health care and expand opportunity. If they win, they will be hailed as the future of the Democratic Party.

But there is a trap. There are few policy prescriptions that are bold enough to matter but moderate enough to win.

As it turns out, the American government already creates transformative communities of abundance without the stigma of “socialism.” As it happens, these are communities Spanberger and Sherrill already know well. I speak, of course, of the military.

Every year the military takes a true cross section of America and equips it for upward mobility, training its members to become nurses and engineers, electricians and pilots — secure careers that can serve their country in peace as well as war.

And in exchange for their service and sacrifice, America signs a social contract to take care of these troops. While Congress debates why Americans spend twice as much on health care as western nations........

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