I have seen this said of Russia, China, the US, and I’m sure it has been said of many others.
With elected governments, like the US and Russia, the phrase is an oxymoron. Especially with the US, this is an oxymoron. The foundation for the US government starts with the phrase that “We the People” set it up, and it is a government “For and By the People.” For those that don’t understand, this means that it is your personal fault, that the government has done anything and everything, both good and bad.
I know what your thinking, “I didn’t vote for those in charge”, “I didn’t vote”, “I don’t agree with what the government is doing,” blah, blah, blah.
That doesn’t matter, you are part of that system, any which way you look at it. The only out that you would possibly have, is if you were actually fighting against the system, and I mean with more than rhetoric.
Now, don’t think I am going to let the people under repressive governments off the hook. The fact of the matter is that the people of any country hold all of the responsibility for their country. There is always a way to change a government. People tend to have the government that works for them.
What does this mean?
This means that you cannot hate the government, but love the people. They are tied together.
With that said, why is it that people say it, and actually mean it?
There are many possible reasons, an example is if you meet someone, and you want to be polite to them. Also, people want to assume that we all know what the ideal government would be. (Too bad we don’t.)
While those are the platitudes that we tell ourselves, the real impetus is that it allows us to justify hurting the “government” that we hate. But this is only good when coupled with the delusion that you can separate the people from the government. As I said above, they are tied together, and so you hurt the people when you hurt the government. Just look at the effects of the sanctions in Iran and in Russia right now.
If you are missing the point, this means that you, personally, are causing harm to the people of Russia, Cuba, Iran and probably many more countries. There is no way around this. All governments are For and By the People.
Of course, what I just said above is completely wrong, because you need to sleep at night, and you are a good person, and you would never tolerate some child to starve.
Sleep tight.