Read Wineke's blog at www.madison.com/wsj/blogs

A century ago, Wisconsin was known as a place for big ideas.

Robert LaFollette ruled from the Capitol end of State Street and Charles Van Hise ruled UW-Madison from the other end.

The "Wisconsin Idea," that the boundaries of the campus are the boundaries of the state, emerged from that era. The UW-Extension (all these entities had slightly different names back then) was organized in 1907. In the 1930s, professor John R. Commons developed civil service reforms and professor Edwin Witte helped put together Social Security and Unemployment Compensation programs.

None of these programs was perfect, nor were the men and women who created them perfect. What characterized the programs, however, is they were big programs, designed to solve big problems. They were put together by men and women who were willing to risk being wrong by proposing big solutions in an effort to combat those big problems.

In 1912, Theodore Roosevelt said "all through the union we need to learn from the Wisconsin lesson of scientific popular self-help and patient care in (preparing) radical legislation."

Recently, no one would seriously call Wisconsin the home of big ideas. Politicians, Republican and Democrat alike, have mastered the art of tinkering at the edges of problems. Year after year, the problems persist and those responsible for solving them seem content to issue press releases instead.

By and large, many of us are far more proud of our athletic teams than we are of the scientists and scholars who deal with such issues as health care, poverty, hunger and aging.

Things may be looking up, however.

Two Wisconsin politicians, state Sen. Jon Erpenbach, D-Middleton, and U.S. Rep. Paul Ryan, R-Wis., have come up with controversial plans to deal with this state's health insurance problems. Ryan's "Roadmap for America's Future" also tackles Social Security.

The plans could hardly be more different.

Erpenbach's "Healthy Wisconsin" proposal would, effectively, put the state in the health insurance business. The average employee in Wisconsin would be taxed $140 per month for insurance. If the spouse works, the average spouse would also pay $140 a month. Employers would also pay a tax in lieu of providing health insurance for their employees. Erpenbach estimates Wisconsin residents pay about $17 billion a year for health insurance. Under his plan, they would pay an estimated $15.2 billion and receive the same benefits state employees now receive.

Ryan's plan takes away the tax advantages employer-provided health insurance now enjoys. It replaces these tax breaks with a $5,000 family tax credit, with which residents could purchase private insurance.

Personally, I like Erpenbach's plan better, even though it would, effectively, increase the out-of-pocket amount I spend for health insurance each year. I think it provides better coverage than Ryan's plan and would solve many of the competitive disadvantages employees working for smaller companies now suffer.

What is important, however, is that each of the plans takes seriously the issue of guaranteeing health insurance to all our residents and each of the plans is a bold departure from what we are doing now.

Could it be that Wisconsin will once again become known as a leader in solving social problems? I hope so.