It’s a pity the Russians didn’t enforce the constitution they had.
The Soviet Constitution shared more than a few similarities with the US constitution. The rights to home security, property, private correspondence, freedom of religion & conscience, equality before the law, and the right to earn/keep earnings and to leave inheritances were all there.
All considered, it wasn’t bad for peoples who had only known Mongol hordes and Czars for the past thousand years.
Despite these guarantees, the Soviet Union was a slave state from its inception. How could oppression live side-by-side recognized assurances of so many personal rights?
Slavery was certain because the Soviet system lacked institutions designed to secure liberty.
Similar to post-1913 American governance, the Soviet constitution set up internal contradictions. While it guaranteed certain rights and free will, the Soviet constitution purposely neglected to provide governing institutions to secure those rights.
At least history provided Russians with an excuse, for they had never known free government.
History doesn’t leave Americans such an easy out. Since the 17th Amendment, America has transformed from the freest nation on earth to one on the cusp of hard tyranny.
Oh, and the Soviet Union had elections too.
It is long past time to reclaim free government. The 17th Amendment must go.