In advance of St. Patrick’s day coming up this weekend, I thought I’d spend some time today talking about the second best thing to come out of Ireland– its nationality law.

There’s no insurance policy quite like having a second citizenship. Sure, it would be great if we could roam around the world without having to brand ourselves by arbitrary political boundaries. I’m Mexican. You’re Canadian. He’s British. Big deal. They’re irrelevant lines on a map that change with every war.