In a nutshell, American idea of the world is that of a sculptor, who takes a stone block and just chisels away the waste to open the beauty which is already there.
In a popular purely American perception of the world, the freedom and democracy are the beauties that are there and that would be cherished by every person and every nation. Why? Because Americans can't believe that there is a single person who would not embrace freedom and democracy. This is a very optimistic view but, unfortunately, overly optimistic. There is no substance hiddenn in the form, nothing to release.
One of the prerequisites for democracy is the maturity to take personal responsibility for your life and for your choices. It is not easy. For countries like Russia this is too much to be asking for and this is true for a lot of other people in other countries. We all know that young criminals, who spent a few years in jail often can't fit the society after they are released. Often because they can't make choices, and can't stand the pressure of freedom and responsibilities that come with that. People. who live in countries like China, North Korea are not ready for that. Big government decides too many things for them, so when faced with real freedom, they are devastated by it, they can't handle the pressure, they are not ready for it.
We are often fooled by the fact that most countries are using the word democracy, and even often implying that their democracy is better. I remember my 40 years in Russia, and there was not a more often used word there. This word is used in a slightly different meaning. Now, if you really think that American meaning of the word democracy or freedom is a better one that Russian, you may be darn wrong. Russians got a little taste of democracy AND THEY DID NOT LIKE IT. At least there is a huge chunk of population that absolutely hate it.
Guys, we are talking about Russia, which is sort of like America, but not as lucky with their autocratic rulers (I am quoting a popular notion, which is dead wrong), but when you are take Afghanistan, Iraq and a lot of other countries, they are way further even from a Russian variant of democracy.
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