I often wished that American "Democrats" would gain a greater understanding of everyday life under state control. Maybe then they would stop the flow of Harry Reids and Nancy Pelosis into our government.

Now, looks like Sochi Olympics are about to offer at least a small, limited glimpse at that experience. Even in 20 years, you can't undo the full extent of 70 years of damage to the national psyche, work mentality, planning practices, and infrastructure.

North American media representatives arriving to the Sochi hotels were quite surprised,  if not shocked, to discover broken appliances, uncovered manholes, swarms of stray dogs, unflushable toilet paper, various outages, "rust water", construction workers sleeping in the rooms, and other pleasantries. As the article puts it, they were having trouble "trying to find a hotel room fit for humans."

Just as it was difficult for an ex-Soviet to believe that a stocked American supermarket was an everyday occurrence, it may be difficult for these people to believe in the persistence of this authentic, if somewhat condensed and modernized, representation of Soviet life.

I hope that at least some of them understand that this isn't just a disconnected experience they have, but that they're looking at the people's paradise created by well-meaning visionaries like Karl Marx, Friedrich Engels, Vladimir Lenin, and Barack Obama.