"As I understand I took most so-called democratic states about 200 years on average to build their democracies. That is why, when we go to sleep under totalitarian rule and wake up in a democracy, it makes me laugh"
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Two centuries is doing a lot of dirty work here: it’s not a statistic so much as a cudgel. Lebed frames democracy as an infrastructure project, not a costume you can throw on after a revolution. By invoking an “average,” he borrows the authority of history to puncture the intoxicating, early-1990s fantasy that Russia could simply swap out the Soviet system and instantly inherit the habits, constraints, and civic trust that take generations to build.
The line lands because it’s staged as a bedtime fable with a cruel punchline. “Go to sleep under totalitarian rule and wake up in a democracy” compresses regime change into a single, absurd overnight miracle, then “it makes me laugh” signals contempt for anyone selling that miracle. The laugh isn’t joy; it’s a veteran’s skepticism, the gallows humor of someone who has watched institutions fail and power reorganize itself faster than ideals can.
Context matters: Lebed spoke out of the post-Soviet churn, when “democracy” was simultaneously a genuine aspiration and a marketing label slapped onto privatization, corruption, and executive power plays. His subtext is a warning to Western audiences and domestic reformers alike: importing elections without building courts, parties, a free press, and enforceable rights doesn’t produce democratic life, it produces a fragile stage set.
There’s also a self-serving edge. By insisting on long timelines, Lebed normalizes delay, “strong hand” politics, and managed transitions. The cynicism doubles as permission: if democracy takes 200 years, who can be blamed for taking shortcuts today?
The line lands because it’s staged as a bedtime fable with a cruel punchline. “Go to sleep under totalitarian rule and wake up in a democracy” compresses regime change into a single, absurd overnight miracle, then “it makes me laugh” signals contempt for anyone selling that miracle. The laugh isn’t joy; it’s a veteran’s skepticism, the gallows humor of someone who has watched institutions fail and power reorganize itself faster than ideals can.
Context matters: Lebed spoke out of the post-Soviet churn, when “democracy” was simultaneously a genuine aspiration and a marketing label slapped onto privatization, corruption, and executive power plays. His subtext is a warning to Western audiences and domestic reformers alike: importing elections without building courts, parties, a free press, and enforceable rights doesn’t produce democratic life, it produces a fragile stage set.
There’s also a self-serving edge. By insisting on long timelines, Lebed normalizes delay, “strong hand” politics, and managed transitions. The cynicism doubles as permission: if democracy takes 200 years, who can be blamed for taking shortcuts today?
Quote Details
| Topic | Freedom |
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