Well, finally it happened. Russia has voted for a list of amendments to our Constitution. Actually it happened one week ago, by I decided to wait and see if my impressions remain.
The official results seem to be true. Some of my friends voted in favor, some against. Most failed to participate. But, despite of enthusiasm on the state mass media, and a fuss among opposition, generally the event went unnoticed.
We have an old joke:
A man has been divorced for a long time and has been raising his child by himself. One day he enters into relations with a lady and introduces her to his son: “Dear Mike, this is going to be our new mother” And he replies in a whisper “Dad, you were cheated, she is not that new”.
The same seems to be the situation with the “new” constitution. Theoretically, most of the amendments look more or less attractive. Practically they have no significance at all.
For common people nothing has changed. Not only much, but at all.
Even the strange case with the new term of Putin is not dependent on all this fuss. It depends only on the final decision of Putin himself when time comes.
Well, the last, but not the least. Personally I have not voted. I still maintain that arrange voting in such a time for such a “necessary” matter was extreme risk. Such “important” amendments could easily wait for half a year, or a year, or may be forever.
