A tale is told which is meant to illustrate the difference between the US mindset and the Russian and explain why the US won the cold war. When an American peasant sees his neighbour build a large and pleasant house he thinks “some day I’ll build myself a better house.” The Russian peasant, the conventional wisdom goes, thinks “someday I’ll burn that house down.” Preposterous, of course. The idea that one group of people — e.g. private sector workers — would, in order to bring them down to their own level, snipe and bitch and denigrate another group that they think is doing better — e.g. public sector workers — instead of working and organising to bring themselves up to the level of the “rival” group…? Quite preposterous.