re: A side note
I'll also say, so as not to be misunderstood: "Taking people as they are" in a social system does not preclude -- nor should it -- encouraging them, and assisting where needed, to become as they wish to be.
Indeed--you can't get there from here if you don't have a realistic understanding of where "here" is. Utopias start "there" and just assume people will somehow show up for the party regardless of where they started.