Thanks a lot for the welcome and the comments.  When I speak of the importance of "utopianism," I  understand that Americans, Brits and of course lots of French "realists" use left-leaning idealism as was way to brand them as dreamers and thus neutralize them.  Funny how rarely people in the press neglect to point out the utopianism that led to Iraq.  Nor does the press refer to the utopianism of the Cato Institute that wants to privatize every scrap of earth, air, fire and water.  In a word, the Right, and especially the Extreme Right has a very utopian underpinning, but because their utopia is couched in the rhetoric of "ownership," "security" and individual strength.  Anyway, I think you see where I am going.

As far as utopianism is concerned for the Left, what I would say is that many people today, and, specifically,  many of the American Democrats or French Socialists I know are very, very glum about the future and insecure about change.  Many are simply fighting to keep what they have.  The question is not one of creating a perfect society, but rather: do we want the future to be better for children, for the next generation?

Do we? Most people say 'yes,' but they have lost that hope and they have lost the vocabulary and faith in public mechanisms that inspire them even with a minute degree of confidence that their children will be better off than them.

The question then becomes, what has changed that makes current adults assume it will be harder for their children than for them and why do people just accept this? This is a radical change in outlook.  The entire (and problematic) industrial revolution has, in some way, been built on the idea of progress, and, luckily, this was seized upon as much by the Left as by the Right, to different ends and with different successes and failures.  Now this very simple utopianism, that the next generation will do better than the present one, has been lost.  More importantly, because of the Right's control of the media as well as the Left's inability to articulate our (mis)fortunes, it seems that no one is even asking the question anymore.

Anyway, I've gone on forever about this ,but it seems that a certain degree of utopianism--a goal for a better future and a vocabulary and framework for its articulation--are necessary.  That's all I meant.  Maybe I just should have said "hope."