> I believe you misunderstood me. I did not mean to imply that American people are somehow born with democracy in their genes (figuratively, of course), if that's what you thought I meant.
It’s not quite what I meant and I was not careful enough when I wrote, sorry. I meant that recent Hungarian history is actually quite similar to what a happening in the US, all things considered, despite some differences.
> one thing that I'm very certain that some things that worked in Russia are simply impossible in the US, at least in the way they happened.
Sure, there are some differences in the details, and I hope the US can still change path. Completely curtailing freedom of the press, for example, would be significantly more difficult than in Russia, and thus is not the path of least resistance (though they have powerful propaganda outlets, an the oligarchy that is forming could make this happen quicker than we think). You make very good points.
> All that said, I hope you can see what I mean when I say that US' situation is somewhat different and things that worked in Russia aren't perfectly applicable.
Indeed. I just think we disagree on the extent of the similarities.
> When I said that "similar things could work out different" I was not arguing about or suggesting any course of action or inaction. I've merely stated that we shouldn't think it's all over because some things, events and personalities have some resemblance to other and those others ended badly.
Fair enough.
> US still has some safeties left.
Indeed, and I hope it won’t go that way. Still, many of these safeties were broken (like he whole legislative branch being made useless and the judiciary being rapidly captured) and the whole political system is in crisis with no end in sight. I am not too optimistic.