Matthew Maly Russia As It Is, Transformation of a Lose Lose Society (2003)

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.Why have itcontinue? Russia is big enough, and could be separated into two states,Stalinia and Friedmania.Let one state have the envy-based laws and letall those who want to live under such laws move there.But the other partof Russia would have a genuinely free economy.Of course, the free partwould pay the envy-based part tribute lest the envious die from hunger orresort to cannibalism or external aggression.No tribute is large enoughfor a genuinely free economy, and prosperity will come anyway.In thisfree part of Russia, the Russian nation, culture, and language (all ofwhich are currently rapidly dying) will be preserved and developed.Again, an envious person is dangerous only if he is able to interfere withcreative ones, and the creative ones should be willing to feed the enviousones as long as they agree to do nothing.Many Russians find they cannotlive in Russia and seek to emigrate.This worries the Western Europeancountries.But most of the Russians who want to emigrate do not want toleave behind the Russian language and culture: it is the Russian state andRussian law they are running away from.Many of these potentialemigrants would gladly move to Free Russia, if such a territory existed.Russia has a piece of territory that does not border on Russia proper: theformer East Prussia, including the city of Koenigsberg.The introductionof a different set of laws on this impoverished and small piece of landcould show Russia the way.Russia is too big and too diverse to be boldlyreformed in a relatively short period of time.East Prussia is small andcould be reformed quickly.Psychological dependence on the bad.A typical Russian expectsbad things to happen to him.If you offer him $500, he will refuse as hewill think that you surely want to steal his apartment.But this does notmean that he is cautious or suspicious: if you offer to sell him anapartment for $5, he will gladly give you five dollars yet, would not besurprised when he gets nothing back.It is the market that establishes311Matthew Malyfairness as the best way to deal with people and gives things their truevalue, and it is the market that was missing in Russia.In both cases, theRussian is really waiting for an opportunity to say, Here, the scoundrelshave tricked me again. Why? This is so because only free and creativelabor gives a true measure of things.Just like the seller of the apartment,you have been working creatively, and that is why you know the truecost of an apartment, expect to pay a fair price, and are able to afford it.Inability to succeed.First, you must want to succeed (we now knowthat there are people who actually want to fail).But the desire to succeedis not enough: you must have the opportunity to achieve the success forwhich you are psychologically ready.The Russian state does notencourage personal success but actively impedes it, thereby providing auniversal excuse for personal failure, a service that Russian citizenscontinue to value and demand.The most important task of a well-functioning Russian state would be to organize a positive psychologicalreorientation of the population, to create a population that is healthy,functional, creative, and success-oriented.Waiting for a miracle.If you are separated from property and notengaged in free and productive labor, you have no way of knowing whatit takes to create.Thus, you wait for goods to appear magically.Since intimes of famine food now falls from the sky in boxes, this phenomenonhas earned the name of cargo-cult.In and around Russia there are lots ofpeople predicting that the Russian economy is about to start growing justbecause it should.And that means only one thing: the economy hasproved so utterly unable to create and produce it now relies entirely onmiracles.But the oil price will come down, and the envy-based economywill one day have to be fundamentally reformed.Even with the price ofoil as high as it is today, Russia fails to conduct essential dailymaintenance: repairing housing, installing communications, providingfor the needy.People who steal and waste resources are hard at work,while those who want to create are unable to do it.Dependence of law on the (changing) status of the subject of law.The subjects of law must be equal before the law (otherwise this is not areal law).The law must be written by its future subjects (or theirrepresentatives), so that they willingly submit to it.A set of rules writtenfor slaves by slave drivers is not law.312Russia As It Is: Transformation of a Lose/Lose SocietyWe should repeat again: all the phenomena discussed above have acommon root: an envy-based social organization.ON DICTATORSHIPThe Russian people like to destroy, but they now realize that this is notthe best solution.As for creating, the Russians are not quite ready to do iton their own, but they would willingly submit if they were forced tobecome creative.People are very reluctant to take their first cold shower, but thengrow to love it and depend on it [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]

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