Is it? I live in Australia, granted but it's not so different here and for the most part everyone's lives are pretty awesome. I think the biggest mistake idealists make is assuming that there is necessarily a better way of doing things that we are capable of as a society right now. That's not to say I disagree there are better ways of doing things per se, and that given another 5,000 years many of these issues will have been resolved but I think it's a mistake to look at a system that's basically working and focus on all the bits that don't work because all the bits that do work have become so commonplace that you take them for granted.