What an excellent post and very interesting observations, Anixx!

I never thought about it so clearly but you explain it really well.

I do agree that the USSR was a democracy, of sorts. As far as I can recall in reading about it, there were plenty of things that regular people could influence on a local basis. But it was not sufficiently flexible, there was a clear limit for how much people could really change through democratic means and no transparent mechanism for dealing with problems or mistakes by officials, or abuse of power. And with the media not free to write what they wanted until "perestroika" it seems to me it must have been like a pressure cooker - when the lid was taken off, metaphorically, during perestroika, there was a small explosion and the whole system came tumbling down. Proof for the fact that it was not an "evil" state is the fact that it literally dissolved itself.... From the point of view of anyone interested in Political Science all this is incredibly fascinating.

Of course, I am aware that Americans are suspicious towards the state in a very unique way. I.e. the concept that if everyone owns weapons, then the state is kept under control and other similar ideas.

Peple in Britain too are suspicious, particularly in the sense that they want the state to have as little information and information about them as possible. When I first moved to the UK from Sweden, I found this very hard to understand - it seemed to me, that it would lead to chaos. For example - in Britain, people will not carry an ID card, and greatly resent that the state keeps information about them in order to be able keep track of pensions payment or any social security withdrawals. The individual is expected to look after himself, and the state is expected to leave him alone unless he is an obvious criminal or suspect of some extreme activities.

In Sweden on the other hand, the opinion is that the more the state looks after people, the better. In order to do this, they need to have as much information as possible on people, and always need to be able to tell one individual from another in records, so ID cards and numbers are an absolute must. To a foreigner arriving in Sweden all this is downright creepy. I get notices sent about everything I am supposed to do, based on my gender, age, marital status etc, etc. If I ignore it, there are reminders. Big brother always looks out for me, whether i want it or not. Any taxes or fees due are pretty much taken from my salary regardless without my involvement. In the UK you have to register to pay certain taxes because it would be unacceptable to people that the state should simply find out who you are and take the taxes due without your approal.

In the UK, the democratic system essentially means that there are 2 parties to choose from, and if you happen to live in a constituency where the majority of voters have a different political opinion than you, then "your" elected politician will be somebody from the opposing party and your vote will be wasted.
One trend in the UK is that the Conservative and Labour party are now very similar in their views on things. A bit like in the USA. My life did not change in the least when there was a transfer of power from Labour to Conservatives years ago. That makes me wonder - what is the point?

Sweden is more democratic than the UK, in the sense that all votes count, but the parties that exist (about 6 worth mentioning) are very close to each other in opinion, so the same trend has taken place. Another diffference witht he UK is that media is extremely hegemonous in Sweden. There is one semi-official position on all important question, and absolutely all papers stick to this, quite "voluntarily". The papers' views on things start moving very gradually and slowly, until they eventually shift, and by then the whole population is on board that there has been a change and most people agree with the new position. At the moment for example, media is starting to run scenarios about possible Nato membership, which has been 100% taboo until recently. I predict that 5-10 years from now, Sweden will be ready to apply for membership.

Not sure how Russia compares to all of this. One thing that is obvious is that people's faith in democracy is really low - much lower than in any "Western" country where everyone has grown up to believe that democracy is always a good thing. It seems people are used to carrying ID cards and the state having information about them. Still, you don't trust the state much, do you? I also get the impression that being "democratic" according to the Western definition is simply not something that most Russians find particularly desirable. I get the impression that you want rather strong, honest and effective leadership. Edinaya Rossia seems to fit the first of these criteria, at least. I could not say about the others. I am also impressed at the level of political involvement and discussions online about politics. Much more, and and a much higher level than in the USA it seems. In England, people can't even be bothered to talk about it, and in Sweden 95% of people have the same opinion about everything, so a debate is pointless, or it turns into a game of the majority telling off the 5% with the different opinion.

One of the things I have grasped while being on MR, is that Edinaya Rossia is not necessarily playing 100% according to the democratic rules anymore - and this to me is worrying. At least in the USSR times, you knew what you had - a relatively predictable system that changed slowly, that everybody was famililar with, including its limitations. Likewise the ideology and values of this party were well known to everyone.

But what you have now, a sort of modern, potentially "fake" democracy that is not offering the social protection and stability that Communism did. And now there are plenty of reports that media is not free either, in that some topics are not Ok to investigate too closely. Or is this a false rumour? Obviously a smart and well educated person might have a better lifestyle in this system than he would have had in the USSR. But what about everyone else - those who don't live in one of the larger cities and isn't able to take advantage of the growing economy, surely that is the majority of the population of Russia? Is this current system benefiting them at all?

I am also interested in the Ukraine and Belarus and I think that the people there are very up to date on what is going on in Russia, and affected by it. I don't know if democracy is the best type of government for these CIS countries, including Russia... and in that case, what type of government would be best. But I hope that something will happen so that people will feel more pleased with their politicians and regain national pride and prosperity.