Maybe related to this but with different framing, I actually think comparing the real world to the ideal can help us prioritize and take steps towards making improvements.

For example: I think abortions should be legal, but in an ideal world the number of abortions would be near zero because access to social safety nets, birth control, and sex education is plentiful.

The thing about reality is that it forces us to deal with engineering constraints, and we have to carefully consider and understand the tradeoffs being made.