As an American, I agree. I think both cultures have little interest in having an honest debate about how to foster a good society across the board. Politicians pay it lip service, but behind the façade everyone is just trying to get theirs in the US just as it is in RF.
NO! Common misunderstanding among Americans who haven't traveled much. You don't even need to go to Russia. Just go to Mexico and it will give you a small taste of how bad things can get. The only way Russia could be worse is if it had feudal slavery.
Ok, there are corrupt people everywhere, but there are often cultural limits on what people will let others and themselves get away with. Those limits are pretty high in the US, but they basically don't exist in Russia.
As to not being interested in figuring out how to create a good society, you're correct. They're both way too exceptional for that.
Turns out I'm half-Brazilian and I currently live in the UK. I spent part of my childhood in the 80s in Brazil so I know a thing or two about corruption.
Anyway, not sure what you were responding "NO" to as you explicitly agreed with the only assertion that I actually made rather than the stereotype that jubilantly flowered forth in your mind's eye.
No, I only meant they both have selfish cultures, obviously they manifest completely differently.
The US continues to be one of the best places to live in the world even in its entitled malaise, largely as a result of momentum of post-war prosperity that was mostly dropped in our lap due to military and political strife around the rest of the planet while we sat happily on a wealth of natural resources ready to be exploited.
