I would be the last person to say that utopia on Earth is anything but a dream, and I can see as well as anyone that there is nothing more dangerous than an attempt to institutionalize or enforce utopia in this world. Nevertheless, it is a dream worth having, even though it will only ever be partly achieved, because our ambition to realize it acts as a counterweight to our natural laxity, our tendency to accept things as they are. To use a phrase I heard in the Midwest growing up, "We must aim for perfection in order to achieve excellence." In this sense, the dreamer is the most pragmatic of individuals, and what we call the pragmatist, someone who advocates what is already possible, is a coward afraid to risk defeat.