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. It’s interesting that we don’t see many comparisons like this anymore. You never see any of the big broadcasters telling you to zoom out, and consider what daily life is like in, say, South Africa. Instead, they’ll bombard you with endless stories about a celebrity kidnapping, or routine immigration enforcement, or dumb podcast drama. And that’s too bad, because serious comparisons to other countries would be very illuminating right about now. Spend a few minutes doing it, and you’ll quickly discover just how third-world and dysfunctional we’re becoming, thanks to major Democrat-run cities. Consider this recent report from South Africa. This is just a random news report I found from a couple of months ago. Watch: Credit: Newzroom Afrika/YouTube.com Credit: News24/YouTube.com This is why they have a big cholera and E.Coli problem over there. In addition to South Africa’s many other issues — including having the worst unemployment rate in the world, collapsing buildings on every street, a failing electric grid, mass violence against white people, and so on — they now have poop in the water. And indeed, that’s a defining characteristic of virtually every third-world nation, including many nations in Africa. It wasn’t always like this in South Africa. Before they kicked the white people out of positions of power — and then stole their farmland and shot them — the infrastructure was a lot more stable. But now that racial equity has been achieved in South Africa, the residents are noticing that it’s not safe to fish, or drink the water, or go for a swim. So then you have to ask the million-dollar question: Could those two developments — the racial equity, and the poop in the water — possibly be connected? One way to answer this challenging question is to compare South Africa’s headlines to our own headlines in the United States.  This is from NBC News the other day. Watch: Credit: NBCNews/YouTube.com More than 240 million gallons of sewage have entered the Potomac River. And counting. That’s by far the largest sewage spill in American history. And although the pipe burst in Maryland, the D.C. Water Department owns the pipe that’s affected, and they’re responsible for containing it. Screenshot: DC Water So how big of a disaster is this? For comparison, during the Deepwater Horizon disaster, around 140 million gallons of oil were released into the Gulf. So the scale of Deepwater Horizon was a lot smaller. And they had movies and congressional hearings about that one.