Zac,
I love the analysis. In fact, we only have to look at the paper everyday to see countries struggling with their "utopia" such as Russia, Iran, and China.
A Russian premier said recently (when criticized about the lack of democracy in the transition from Putin to Medvedev), "We have a plan for Russia until 2020 - but you (USA) don't even know who will be in power next January..." That brings up a great point. Democracy makes it difficult to get things done sometimes. Could you imagine if we threw out CEOs every four years? How would great companies ever exist? It takes 4 years just to get started.... not to mention changing Congress every 2 years.
Countries like Iran, China, and Russia deeply believe that average people are not smart enough to run a country. They understand what a "perfect country" is, whether it relates to religion (Iran), money/oil (Russia), or complete control over communication (China). Most recently, countries like Burma and Thailand keep screwing up their democracy and militaries take over and suppress people even more. It raises a good defense for "utopian principles."
The US in fact, is leaning much more towards this "Utopia" idea and trying to institute US-values throughout the world. Obvious examples are Iraq and Afghanistan and the former Third Reich. Less obvious examples are Mexico, Colombia, Iran, South Korea, and Japan.
A mon avis, I think the internet and cell phones will be the end to Utopian government plans. The recent uprisings in Tibet and Burma were strongly correlated with the internet and phones - now that they can see what life is like outside their utopias, many decide they like the non-utopian life better. Also, when the uprisings occur, text messages and videos allow the outside world to see what's going on and pressure the government.
Whether we like it or not, I don't think utopias will be possible because there will always be a people that feels suppressed. These people will rise up, gain momentum and try to take over to institute their utopia and suppress a new group of people.
-Tim
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