What's your vision of either Heaven or an Earthly Paradise or Political Utopia?

[Antonio the Sixth]

Actually, what Celticempire said is exactly the reason why I don't give much thought to this question. Of course, I have a few basic ideas of what the ideal society looks like, but I try to focus my political thinking on the here and now rather than on distant goals. I really think that Bernstein was onto something fundamental when he said that "the movement means everything": what matters isn't the final destination, it's the direction you take. Political movements that seek to create a better society have generally done a lot more good than those that have sought a perfect society.

[Antonio the Sixth]

Yes, but you need to have a destination/vision in mind in order to have any direction.

To some extent, yes. But I think the most important thing to remember is that whatever our destination might be, it will never be the final destination - there will always be something else beyond. And it doesn't really matter if the destination is reached or not: in fact, most of the time I fully know it won't. In the end, all that really matters is that we've made a few steps in the right direction.

[Antonio the Sixth]

So what is the right direction to move towards, if never fully reach?

The way that I think it would be more useful to put it right now would be along the lines of what Per Albin Hansson called the "People's Home" (Folkhemmet), a society where everyone is equally valued and cared for, where there are "no special favorites and no stepchildren." These are the ideals that I believe modern society needs to embrace in order to fight against the tendency toward selfishness, distrust and hatred of everything "other". My current display name is also, in part, a tribute to this spirit (Jante's Law is something distinct from the Folkhemmet, but I think the two reinforce each other). But the important thing to remember is that these same ideals, applied to a different context, might actually do more harm than good. That's what happened to many ideals in history, and that is why I'm wary of putting too much emphasis on them.