Erin Go Bragh!

Ireland is perhaps the best example in the world of how free markets, low tax rates and policies that value individual rights catapult a poor country into being a rich country. When I visited Eire, my ancestral homeland, 20 years ago most people lived in a house with a thatched roof, no telephone and maybe someone in the village had a car, but everyone had a cough from living in a dank chill. Still, as Brecht said, they were the "best of the West."

Then, Ireland lowered corporate tax rates to 10% and, now, Ireland has the best economy in the EU while most of Europe is in a solipsistic welfare downward spiral.

To top off how cool Ireland is, they are now, without major controversy, approving gay civil unions. This is in a country where, 20 years ago, you couldn't get a condom without permission from a priest. Don't ask me how I know that, but it is true.