The fact that I can freely discuss the fact that my government installs and supports (occasionally very directly) brutally anti-democratic regimes that stand in

The fact that I can freely discuss the fact that my government installs and supports (occasionally very directly) brutally anti-democratic regimes that stand in complete opposition to everything my country claims to stand for, does not somehow negate the fact that my country is doing those things. This isn't a question of "is the US better/worse than China/Russia/etc?". The question is "Is the US living up to its own legend?" I would argue that, based on the activities of the CIA and other arms of the government, the answer is unambiguously "NO". I understand that one of the key ways that e.g. Putin remains acceptable to his population despite being unambiguously a strongman is to basically say "I am no better than any of them, except that I never said I would be".