Well, Serge............. do you want the Russian system of gov't or ours (though one might argue that we seem to be "drifting" their way at the moment)?

Glenn I’m not the right person to engage into that argument with. I was old enough to remember what the Soviet Union was like since I lived it. Your “understanding” of the system is different than mine. You watch tv and believe what they want you to believe but I know the reality, I lived it as did my parents and grandparents.

Soviet Union was a different time and Russia is a different place now. In fact Russia is closer to our system than Soviet Union ever was in social inequality since anyone is able to engage in entrepreneurial ventures and they do. Hence a Bentley or two or three on every street in Moscow. Obviously many get left behind just like here. Under Soviet Union there was no inequality, just a mediocre lifestyle no matter who one was by education or trade. “Equal” to your neighbor was the Communist way. It had a lot of negatives but at no point in time did the people leave culture behind even if the Soviet government left everything in ruins and disrepair.

Now you see culture blossoming in fact in every larger city in Russia. They are investing in infrastructure, parks, preserving nature, building magnificent recreational centers for the masses to enjoy.

I have to bite my tongue here so we don’t slip further but I’ll just leave it at this, when I was in Moscow and strolled through Gorky park, I saw rose gardens blooming, fountains beating to classical music and swans swimming in the park lake. There was a very neat beer stand in Gorky park and I was curious to see just how many Russian “drunks” would be in line. None, no one was buying beer much to my surprise.

Women were dressed neatly, children were laughing as they rode on kid trolleys that would take them around the park... People were happy and satisfied with their “new system” as far as I could tell. Moscow and other cities put up magnificent displays of Christmas trees lit up with lights for people to enjoy the holiday spirit and evil Mr.Putin addresses everyone with the warmest of holiday wishes on tv as he has been for decades....

As I stroll through Philadelphia parks I see homeless riffraff occupying the benches, drunk or stoned out of their minds, their stench permeating the air, overflowing garbage cans, trash on the grass and in the bushes. Now we have people sh!tting in the streets as witnessed in San Francisco and other cities. We have an opioid crisis, hypodermic needles littering some parts of the cities and I can go on and on.

As a US citizen and someone who has lived over 40 years in the USA I am very patriotic of my country but I simply cannot and will not agree with some of our priorities. The military-industrial complex is sucking our country dry and funneling the taxes into building war machines like no other country in the world, to the tune of 700 billion a year and then can’t account for trillions of dollars? Do I give a sh!t about the perpetual enemies, real and imagined that they have to conjure up yearly to justify the military expense as the greedy war oriented corporations grease the palms of our politicians while lining up their pockets and bombing everyone in sight?

I’d rather see peace and swans in our lakes as the fountains beat to the rhythm of classical music. We can’t even fix the potholes in the streets let alone pave the streets with granite, marble and other luxury materials so people can proudly walk the sidewalks like they do in Moscow today. People need and want culture, we as tax payers deserve it.

I remember as a kid and this goes on to this day in Russia, once a year and always on a dedicated Saturday, everyone, kids, adults and even senior citizens, through schools, workplaces, libraries, etc would spend the day cleaning up their towns/cities, sweeping, painting, repairing, planting, etc... There was a certain felling of pride as everyone would participate in unison to clean and beautify a place where one lives. It goes a long way towards building moral standards and pride of your home town. Littering on the streets was frowned upon and every adult reserved the right to scold any child for throwing trash or acting immorally in general. If you teach them young, the moral roots have a chance of taking hold.

I can only imagine getting today’s youth to break away from their video games and go do something for our communities as I can only imagine the backlash of scolding someone else’s child anywhere in the USA... :smoking:

Raising kids was always viewed as a “community responsibility”. We don’t follow those practices here hence the results.... Not all parents are created equal and without the appropriate guidance and help from morally strong and developed citizens who would care to lend a helping hand and make a difference, we have some serious issues.

I don’t think it’s necessarily a geographical issue, it’s the new generations not seeing clearly just what a responsibility it is to ensure the future generations know right from wrong. :smoking:


You cannot take away or beat the pride and culture out from those that were raised with pride and morals. :smoking: Ask not what the community can do for you, ask what YOU can do for the community? I think we could use some of that spirit here.


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Serge- Thank you for sharing your perspective as someone who grew up in Russia/Soviet Union in regards to the priorities of a country and culture.

It is my pleasure to do so without bias or prejudice. I would love to see ALL countries grow and prosper and as I already mentioned, I am very patriotic of the US of A. It is my home and there is no place else I would rather live. It however saddens me to see us slowly spiraling down into the abyss. It's not too late, we can still make a difference but it will take an enormous effort to change the system which is obviously hell bent on profit for the corporations at the expense of everything and everyone else. There should be balance where there is little left.

I hope we're not going down this trail again. :no: For the first time in my life I shall remain silent on a number of points raised here that are highly debatable so I will simply & respectfully point out the lines of political discussion have long been crossed by now.

Getting back on topic and to business on hand err foot or whatever.... Play Mayor for a day. What would you do to resolve this problem?

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Agree with 62caddy except to say this quasi-political thread is close to the edge....

not to mention when traveling to that 's' hole you have to pay their ridiculous socialized health care tax.

opps, can you tell I'm not much of a fan .......

Serge - you're funny.