On Christmas Day, the coming into the world of the Savior is celebrated — the man who changed the world. Moreover, this holiday is most actively celebrated where there are the strongest democratic institutions — parliaments, independent courts, separation of powers. But Christmas, and Easter, and everything connected with the figure of Christ is not about institutions, but about a person. The fact that a person is able and obliged to act within the framework of any institutions, that what is happening inside a person is more important than what happens outside.
Paradoxically, the world of stable institutions is not celebrating the anniversary of parliament or the date of the establishment of an independent court , and the birth of man — even if God. And although Christ did not call for free elections or for a parliamentary republic, people both in our country and abroad note the obvious fact that if it were not for this person, not only this one, but many others, then there would be no institutions. , nobody would just build them.
Somewhere from the second half of the 18th century, if not earlier, the efforts of prominent builders of society have been focused on the formation of impersonal institutions that can function effectively in any “quality” of people that do not depend on their moral and even intellectual characteristics. And since then, the understanding of the priority of institutions has become a commonplace. Everyone now understands that it is not enough to replace a bad ruler with a good one — we need institutions that will not allow the “good” to become “bad” tomorrow.
Should we not know this? Few explain what has happened to us over the past 20 years only by the malicious intent of individual characters — more often they talk about the incompleteness of the construction of institutions, the weakness of which made all this possible, about the underestimation or even ignorance of the importance of institutional development by the previous authorities.
But we see that institutions are still dependent on people. That they can be changed beyond recognition or even destroyed by human fears, prejudice or indifference. The American political system allowed the emergence of Trump, and much more, which is not yet clear how America will overcome. Yes, even in our country, with all the imperfections of our political system, as it was formed by the year 2000,
institutional resistance to the curtailment of democracy was possible — this did not happen precisely because of the people who ruled the institutions of that time.
And surprisingly, the dispute about the primacy of the chicken or the egg, as well as the belief in the omnipotence of impersonal institutions, recedes as soon as it comes to our country (maybe not only about ours, but about ours, for sure). How many times have we heard that we have failed and will not succeed precisely because supposedly the people are not the same — they say, «the horde, the nation of slaves, the habit of submission.» Continue this mournful list yourself.
I would like to object to this non-appealable judgment. What is disgusting here is not the people, not the country, but the state. And not only is it that institutions do not work, but also who has been carefully and consistently recruited in recent years to exercise power. For the most part, people of this stratum are poorly educated and not too smart. They are immoral — they ignore the obligations assumed upon taking office to take care of the quality of life, safety and opportunities for self-realization of fellow citizens. They are often criminal — thinking about their careers and personal well-being, they constantly break the law. Most often they are ready to do any harm to the country and people in order to please their bosses and multiply their own wealth.
Photo: Vitaly Nevar/TASS
And everything would be hopeless if not for the people. Ordinary, not the best — not like the State Duma deputies, television experts and others. Ordinary people are mostly normal. They do not lie unnecessarily, unless they lie when they tell. They do not steal for the most part — someone steals, but there are not many of them. And when they steal, they try not to take from other people, but from the state or from large firms, and this seems to be not stealing. They help each other — and the door to the subway will be held, and the car will be helped out of the snowdrift, and the hungry will be fed. See how many volunteers are caring for the elderly and looking for missing children. Remember how at the very beginning of the pandemic, when it was not clear how many would survive, in small, private stores, their poor owners put packages with free food sets for those who were really bad.