Tucker Carlson joined a host of world leaders at the World Government Summit and told them that Moscow is “so much nicer than any other city in America”. Carlson continued, “It is radicalizing for an American to travel to Moscow.” “I’ve learned it this week while traveling to Singapore, Tokyo, Dubai and Abu Dhabi, no matter how we’re told they’re run, are wonderful places to live that don’t have rampant inflation.”
Moscow must be a great city if you are wealthy. Most European cities are like this. You tend to be an American tourist if you like to visit clean, beautiful cities, eat in the best restaurants, and explore the most interesting areas of the town. You can see the onion domes built by serfs in Europe. It’s probably pretty neat.
Moscow can be a horrible place to live if you are an average person. Most likely, the average Muscovite lives in a dingy apartment complex located far away from Moscow. Many of these were constructed during the Soviet period. If they’re lucky. Novosibirsk is home to many Russians, as are Ekaterinburg and Nizhny Novgorod. Omsk, Ufa, and Omsk. The GDP per capita in Russia is approximately $13,000. In the United States, it is approximately $83,000. In Mississippi, the poorest of our states, it’s about $46,000. The majority of Russians live in poverty, which is what Americans would call it.
In terms of economic measures, there is probably no single one where Russia beats the United States. All of this does not even mention the fact that Russia is a corrupt country, whose price is embedded in virtually every business deal. Americans don’t seem to realize how little corruption they have to deal with every day. On the index of corruption, Russia is ranked near Uganda and Togo.
Only alcoholism or suicide is more prevalent than bribery. The Russians receive far inferior medical care. Far smaller homes, fewer things to purchase, and fewer places visited. Mobility is reduced. Less innovation. There is less meritocracy.
Money is not everything. Religious commitment? According to a Pew Research Center survey conducted in 2018, between 50% and 65% of Americans said religion was important to their lives. In Russia, the number is between 16 and 34%. Russian divorce rates are the highest in the entire world at 74%. Even though we are heading in the wrong direction, we still have more kids. The crime rate in Moscow has decreased over the years, but it’s still higher than the average American city.
I love Russian culture – Dostoevsky’s, Shostakovich’s, Tarkovsky’s, etc. It doesn’t matter that 20 percent of Russian homes don’t have indoor piping. Or the fact that one-third of Russian hospitals do not have running water. You may be surprised to learn that the infrastructure in Russia is not very good. The Human Development Index places Russia 52nd. It is a country that has a lot of natural resources, including oil and gas.
Carlson talks a lot about the attacks against free speech and freedom of inquiry. Neither exists in any way for people in Moscow. Russia is an autocratic state. Just because Democrats are against Russian President Vladimir Putin, that doesn’t mean he is any less evil.
It is now paying off the decades-long effort by the American Left to portray the U.S. as a backward hellhole. It is hoped that the Right won’t follow suit, although some populists have already started to sound like the average progressive leftist. According to a new Pew survey, half of Democrats younger than 30 think other countries are “better” than the U.S., and 40% of Democrats aged 30 to 49. One-quarter of Democrats aged over 50 also agree. Republicans under 30 years old are more likely to say that other countries are better than the U.S.
What does “better” mean? What does it mean to be richer for the average citizen or more moral? Less racist and more diverse? Freer? More beautiful? More innovative? No such place exists. It is not for the average person. Not at this scale.
Second, I would love to know about which “other countries” you are referring to. When Americans think of “better”, they tend to imagine a mythical utopia somewhere in Western Europe. Not East Asia, the Middle East, or Russia.
Because I am from here, I do not believe in American exceptionalism. It’s a fact that I cannot deny. Some people don’t like the idea that America is better. Either they think it’s a flag-waving exercise or they are so politically invested and angry about their complaints they cannot accept the fact. Even with the inequity, the turmoil, and the clowns running the place, the fact remains that we are the worst.
