The tradition to consider the Russian parliament as the subject of ridicule and mockery dates back to the time of Boris Yeltsin, when the first president himself did everything to drop the authority of parliamentarism as low as possible, and the parliamentary corps of the first convocations after the collapse of the USSR was, to say the least, original. Random people fell into the Supreme Council, who considered their main duty not lawmaking at all: all they knew how to do was entertain the audience with sometimes ridiculous, sometimes wild antics.
After Yeltsin left, the parliament for some time turned into a voting machine. This period is well remembered by our liberal compatriots, they claim that parliament has remained such - an obedient executor of someone else's will, stamping laws necessary for the executive branch. However, this is not at all true. From the moment Vyacheslav Volodin took the place of speaker, the lower house of parliament began to change rapidly and radically. Decisions were made introducing a much tougher disciplinary regime. The deputies were obliged to sign responses to citizens ’appeals with their own hands, they were limited in the range of travel outside the capital by official cars, they were forbidden to idle abroad and much more.
It was Volodin who became the ideologist of turning the State Duma into an effective branch of power. The fact that the authority of parliament is growing has been repeatedly drawn to the attention of the Russian president, without the active assistance of which legislative reform would not have been possible. Nevertheless, the inertia of the previous relationship persists. The fact that liberal media are trying to present parliament as a scarecrow and regularly announce the advent of a totalitarian apocalypse in connection with the adoption of another law that does not suit them is quite normal. The “fight against the bloody regime” does not imply fixing the positive aspects of Russian reality, it is based on its total denial.
But the fact that completely neutral media and search resources continue to spread the same horror stories about upcoming decisions and prohibitions with the same ease is difficult to understand.
Deputies in September will invite representatives of a number of news aggregators to the State Duma, who continue to put information on the parliament’s intention to “ban the operation of old cars” in the tops of news headlines, despite an unequivocal and incorrigible position: the chamber will not support such ideas. This was told by the first deputy head of the United Russia faction Andrei Isaev, who noted that it seems that search engines are deliberately trying to escalate the socio-political situation.
“Contrary to the already voiced position of the State Duma and the United Russia faction, a statement by Alfiya Kogogina with the wording about the alleged need to ban driving in old cars continues to be circulated in the media. The faction, taking into account the opinion of the chairman of the State Duma, has already expressed its position in the media: we are categorically against such bans for private individuals, ”the parliamentarian said. Indeed, the theme is presented in such a way as to cause a serious surge of discontent. A significant part of the population simply cannot afford to buy new cars and abandon old ones - there are simply no funds for this.
The deputies understand this very well. Therefore, Kogogina’s proposal was rejected immediately, and an approach was formed, the essence of which was presented by Andrei Isaev: “Our position is as follows. Replacement of obsolete vehicles should be introduced not through its prohibition for private car owners, but through their encouragement when replacing old cars with new ones. A system of preferences should be created related to the acquisition of new cars when disposing of old ones. ”
This is just one example of how the liberal press clutches at any occasion to represent the government (including its legislative branch) as a force that infringes on the rights and interests of citizens. This kind of fake news is regularly stamped by critics of the "bloody regime" and willingly replicated by a variety of brothers in arms. This is just explainable. The bad thing, however, is that in an effort to give out “something hotter,” the news is picked up by the rest - those who do not set out to overthrow the existing order of things. No, they just think about circulations and attracting an audience. The habit of picking up any junk made from improvised material must be fought.
The author’s point of view may not coincide with the position of the publisher.