"I don't really understand the desire for some Platonic form of 'the good society.' People in different societies learn different values, and then they apply these values to define what 'the good society' is. It doesn't surprise me that someone who grew up in a society like ours would like 'hints' of other societies that remind us of the values we've learned in our own society."
You speak as if workers' collective ownership of the means of production is a value of American society. It isn't.
So that's something I value in spite of society's current preferences, not because of the predominant values in ours. I've yet to see a good reason one can't look to the past to how movements were successful for hint (Civil Rights, some hints there) or at how they were unsuccessful (i.e., the original goals of the CIO, not achieved, hints there). Not a very radical idea to do this.
Btw, "Good society" = not perfect society, which is impossible, but better one than now. I have my idea of what that is, undoubtedly culturally informed like anything else, including your response that you don't understand the idea of a desire for a "Platonic 'good society'."
-B.