In your editorial, [See below] you make some interesting observations on the concepts of Choice, responsibility and the system.  How much do we, the people really understand about these very important principles . 
   So much is taken for granted in a world of ignorance and apathy.  Is it a strategy put in place to confuse and control the masses?  Why is it that not enough of us are knowledgeable about ‘how’ the system works?   
   You suggest the basics are all wrong, perhaps it’s because we the Public have never been fully educated about what the basics are. 
   How different the ‘System’ would be if society had the skills and knowledge to support their choices if every individual understood and accepted that rights involves responsibilities, that seriously held us to account for those commitments.  It’s not good enough that only a minority of the community care sufficiently in the decisions that politicians make for all of us. It’s not good enough that only a minority of the populace make the effort to vote.
   If anything has to change, it must be the way people are educated to feel about themselves and their environment.  How can we change 'what people do' System unless we provide them with a practical foundation on ‘how’ to problem solve. 
   Spend a day in the classroom to find out how much students expect to be handed solutions on a plate, because they lack a focus of who they are.  They all know they have ’rights,’ but without a sense of responsibility.  Without ‘duck shoving’ whose fault is that? The responsibility belongs to all of us.
   As adults, (and I use that word with reservation) we have to make better choices about what and how young people learn and the expectations of learned behaviour, not just the basics of academics, but the basics of humanity, that instils in every individual not only the right to choose, but an understanding of the responsibility that goes with it.
   Perhaps only then, will all of us be capable of establishing a system that will “benefit a substantial proportion of our citizens” in a truly democratic way.

Annie Glancey
                                Read Editorial referred to in this article.
Read other people's views on various topics