With great freedom, comes great responsibility

The American idea of freedom (that is almost complete freedom for every individual) is a concept that many western intellectuals accept as an axiom for a good life. Though it is right that people decide what is best for them, but many times this local decision is not good for the society/masses. In fact, many times these decisions are not good for the people themselves (ie taking drugs, driving under influence, etc.). How is it that governments can make people work towards a goal of building a nation with such freedom ?
Here is where education comes in - educated individuals are supposed to be responsible people, they enjoy their freedom but also contribute in building a strong nation (even if some people disagree with the concept of nations). But unfortunately education all over the world has reduced to just imparting technical knowledge so that children can make a living out of it. Educated people have better skills now, but the same is not true about moral values. And because of population explosion, it is difficult to make every child cultured in say a class of 100 students. Freedom in hands of such mechanical beings is dangerous. The deregulation of financial sector in US showed how these educated people can make lot of money for themselves and let the system collapse. This freedom without bounds (and irresponsible players) turns the playground into a free-for-all where the cheater always emerges the winner. I think it has been emphatically proved that extreme laissez-faire does not work when the players are themselves not fair.
At an individual level this freedom allows people to ruin their own life. A good example of this is students from India/China who come to study in US. They come from a society which has many checks and bounds (some good, some bad). In a bid to enjoy the freedom (as their American friends do), many of the students fall into a vicious trap of drugs, alcohol and sex - not because they want to do drugs but because they are weak enough to submit to peer pressure. And it is a known fact that the number of students in depression in very high. So is this a problem with American culture or the culture of India/China ? I think both. American culture has taken freedom with no responsibility to an extreme - anything extreme is not good. Indian/Chinese culture puts too many shackles on people's life, which breeds resentment. Some of the most balanced and happy people are those who have imbibed the good points of both Western and Eastern cultures, whereas we can see innumerable examples of people who have adopted the bad points of these cultures (and yet think they are better off/happy/cool). Extreme thoughts have always attracted people (like Nazi philosophy) but they have always led to destruction and pain. For those familiar with Buddhism, the middle path specified by Buddha precisely addresses this point and asks people to avoid all extremes.
Responsibility is a required trait not only for the powerful people, but also every ordinary free man. I like Barack Obama when he does stress on responsibility and discipline, hopefully he brings in this change that will benefit US a lot.