March '08 Politically Speaking

We have a trip for 24 folks to join me in Ireland in June. There’ll be sight-seeing, great food and drink, golf, and some enlightenment on today’s Ireland and the Celtic economy. Don’t worry: if you don’t play golf, you can still go and not pay as much.

The trip to Ireland is set. Check out the links below. Besides the tours, golf, history, food, and the pubs, we have some intellectual insights for you. Already, we have Irish journalist Mark Little as a speaker for one night. We’re hoping to schedule my good friend Trina Vargo, the President of the U.S. Ireland Alliance.

Ireland Itinerary & Sign-up Form

If you're joining me in Ireland: Here’s A Must Read

For those of you joining us in Ireland in June, I have a book for you to read.

The opening sentence in the book The Pope’s Children is this. “Ireland has arrived.” And boy has it ever.

The Pope’s Children is written by Irishman David McWilliams, a social commentator and keen observer who has an economic background. This book is a must-read for anyone thinking about living, vacationing, working, or investing in Ireland. If you have no connection to Ireland but you want to see how a country goes from Third World status to economic elite in twenty years, this is an eye-opener.

My good friend Trina Vargo recommended this book. Trina is President of the U.S. Ireland Alliance, a non-profit that promotes Ireland in the United States. Trina is trying to show today’s Ireland to Americans who still think the Emerald Isle is golf, green beer, and leprechauns. Ireland is an economic power that blends the traditions of Ireland with the modern day world, namely America. David McWilliams explains it perfectly.

I understand why Trina wanted me to read it. After you read this book, some of you may want to think about moving there since Ireland is hip, cool, and it has the world’s lowest tax rates bar none.

The title of the book comes from the visit to Ireland in 1979 by Pope John Paul, which was, coincidentally, the height of the Irish baby boom. And those Irish babies are today’s Irish elite.

As I read the first part of the book, however, I came up with some other titles. The first was The United States of Ireland. The second was The French Are Right. Ireland, it seemed, has become America. Their culture is now fast-paced, SUV-driving, win at any cost, more Evangelical and Protestant while being less Catholic, long hours of work and play, American Idol dreams, fatter yet joining more health clubs, obsessed with buying land but not concerned about going into debt, and voting in far fewer numbers. McWilliams comically paints a picture of a fat, short Irishman struggling to climb into his SUV.

But as I read further, McWilliams pointed out that many of the Pope’s Children have remained true to Irish culture blending the old with the new. For instance, the number of schools teaching in the Gaelic language went from 25 to 200 from the time the Pope’s Children were born until today: a 900 % increase, according to McWilliams.

The new Irish have also achieved the sweetest revenge. Once the Brits’ minions, they are now the owners of some of London’s priciest real estate, conquering Great Britain, so to speak, without a bomb or sniper needed, just brains, desire, and a handshake.

McWilliams has done a clever job of labeling The Pope’s Children into sub-categories. Terms like Kell’s Angels, Robo Patty, Decklander, the hybrid Hi-Co for Hibernian and Cosmopolitan are apparently the new vocabulary at Irish parties much like DINKS (double income no kids) YUPPIES (young upwardly mobile persons) were in the 1980s America. Obviously, McWilliams’ labeling has not offended too many Irish, because this book is selling like crazy in Ireland. I met an Irish caddie working in the U.S. on the LPGA Tour and he raved about the book and the talk it’s creating in Ireland.

Americans can learn from this book and from the Irish. So many Irish have lived or worked outside of Ireland. Remember, until the mid 1990s Ireland’s biggest export was their people. Today many Irish have returned using their world experience to make their country and their companies better. While only five percent of Americans, according to McWilliams, carry a passport. (I had heard it was 20%. Either way, Americans are collectively myopic and insular compared to the Irish. I remember many great dinner conversations with Irish friends who knew as much or more about American politics than most Americans. And most of the Irish are not fans of George W. Bush.)

McWilliams is more than an observer of Irish culture. He skillfully explains the economic smarts and luck of the Irish. The smarts come from their materialistic impersonation of Americans and the issuing of credit to the Irish masses. The luck comes from Germany and its older population of wealthy pensioners. McWilliams creates two fictional characters, Udo and Gisela, to explain the couple looking for a safe investment for their pension. The safe investment is Ireland. And because there are so many Udo’s and Gisela’s, the money flows into Ireland for business ventures, land acquisitions worldwide and, oh by the way, Mercedes. Sales of Mercedes in Ireland have grown ten-fold since the mid-1990s. McWilliams says one way to continue the Irish boom is to cryogenically freeze Udo and Gisela.

The best lesson from The Pope’s Children is a lesson all countries can heed. One factor that has led to the growth in Ireland was the vote to drop from the Irish Constitution the call for a re-unification of the entire island. That is gone. As McWilliams writes, “Partition was accepted and the British majority in the northeast of the country was told they had won.” Maybe you could send this book to friends in Israel and Palestine or in Iraq.

Some disclosure here. I am very proud to be an American. I am also as proud to be an American of Irish descent.

The Pope’s Children is not in American bookstores. The best place to get the book, thanks to Trina, is at www.kennys.ie.