Atlantis wrote:Putin is one of the most corrupt leader in Europe who condemns his country poverty in the service of a corrupt oligarchy.
Considering the state of the country when he assumed leadership in 2000 it is hardly surprising that Russia still has problems. It was on the brink of civil war. They used economic liberalism to try and increase living standards. It's a long road, they do not want central planning or state capitalism.
Atlantis wrote:In any sense of the meaning, Europe today is the best place on Earth.
Materially perhaps, although this is not universally true and even less so in the peripheral states like Britain or in Eastern Europe.
Existentially though Europe is a hell on earth.
Material existence is not the only standard by which we can determine quality of life.
The UK is fast turning into a dictatorship, there's out of control violence, growing inequality and it's a country where police officers can be dragged through the street at 40 mph. Social bonds between people and general camaraderie are deteriorating. Individualism is rampant. What sort of country is this becoming?
Atlantis wrote:You have a thoroughly distorted perception of reality.
Perhaps this is true but it's still based on what I see around me.
Potemkin wrote:@Political Interest is a conservative, in the true sense of that word. This means that he is horrified by modern society, just as conservative and traditionalist thinkers were horrified when modernity first reared its head back in the 18th and 19th centuries. What passes for 'conservatism' now is anything but conservative, being in favour of unrestrained free markets, libertinism and consumerism. @Political Interest simply cannot bring himself to accept these things. What is 'best' to you horrifies him.
This is very true. And it very much is a literal inability. I've tried to accept the way the world is but it's proven impossible. That the current state of affairs is a source of unhappiness that is beyond my ability to accept is actually at least one source of comfort. I'll never be happy even if I try to force myself to be.
Patrickov wrote:Sometimes there is a price to pay to keep ourselves free. Inspirations or leadership do not necessary win votes, which can be sad, but one may perceive a system vulnerable to abuse ten times worse than "having a leader ten times worse than their expected standards".
It can also be said that, in Europe, many nations simply vote for custodians.
P. S. To me, the same goes for the United States or any other country.
We are not entirely free. In the West there is a public consensus that you get punished for if you oppose. The pressure is horizontal, it doesn't come from the government but from the society. People get obsessed by faddish political religions. If you go against it you can get yourself in serious trouble. I've heard someone from the former Yugoslavia say that even under Marshal Tito's leadership they had more freedom than in the West today because under communism it was the government you feared offending whereas in the West it is the entire society. The West is
more free but not entirely free and in many instances it is even less free.