From citizen's rights to consumer choices.

We have given up our rights as citizens in favour of rights as consumers, as customers. We have always been a nation of shoppers as well as shopkeepers but never has the retail mind set claimed the hegemony that it does today. From health to education to the provision of utilities to transport to politics itself, we are first and foremost customers with choices to be made and satisfaction to be evaluated. The  philosophy of the market place has seeped into every facet of our lives. We would sooner discus the relative benefits of different schools, supermarkets, pension plans or health care trusts rather than the pressing matters of the day. Only a tough and street savvy citizenry can ask the important questions like "Will it always be like this?" "Is a classless society possible?" and "Will there be any life before death?".