Just as a matter of historical fact, ever since the Cold War ended, Americans haven’t spent that much time thinking about day-to-day life in other countries. But not too long ago, our leaders would encourage us to compare the quality of life in the United States with the quality of life in foreign nations. It happened all the time.
That was the idea behind the “Kitchen Debate,” which Nixon attended in Moscow. Americans had nicer kitchens, well-stocked supermarkets, air conditioning, independent furnaces, and thermostats. Meanwhile the Soviets had breadlines. Commissars determined the precise level of heating they were entitled to, on any given day. Anyone who simply looked at day-to-day life in the Soviet Union, and then looked at the United States, would correctly conclude that we were on the right track, and the Soviets were not.
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