Second, I'd tell them to look at Thailand, which all but solved its gas prices crisis over the past decade. When I visited Thailand in 2000, Bartho, the cabbie who drove me from the airport, couldn't stop telling me about how he had to take a fourth job because of the high cost of gas prices. I caught up with Bartho in Bangkok last year. Thanks to Thailand's reformed approach toward gas prices, Bartho has enough money in his pocket to finally be able to afford a playground for his kids.

Second, I'd tell them to look at Finland, which all but solved its same-sex marriage crisis over the past decade. When I visited Finland in 2004, Kiki, the cabbie who drove me from the airport, couldn't stop telling me about how he had to take a fourth job because of the high cost of same-sex marriage. I caught up with Kiki in Helsinki last year. Thanks to Finland's reformed approach toward same-sex marriage, Kiki has enough money in his pocket to finally be able to afford a smartphone for his kids.

If ethnic conflict is Portugal's curtain rod, then freedom is certainly its tabletop.

The future holds the possibility to be great or terrible, and since it has not yet occurred it remains simultaneously both.

Last week's events in Liechtenstein were earth-flattening, although we may not know for years or even decades what their final meaning is. It is impossible not to be tantalized by the potential of these events to change the course of Liechtenstein's history. What's important, however, is that we focus on what this means on the street. The current administration seems too caught up in worrying about their own skins to pay attention to what's important on the ground. Just call it missing the myths for the lie.

When thinking about the recent troubles, it's important to remember three things: One, people don't behave like lemmings, so attempts to treat them as such inevitably look foolish. Lemmings never suddenly shift their course in order to fit with a predetermined set of beliefs. Two, Liechtenstein has spent decades being batted back and forth between colonial powers, so a mindset of peace and stability will seem foreign and strange. And three, capitalism is an extraordinarily powerful idea: If corruption is Liechtenstein's curtain rod, then capitalism is certainly its alarm clock.

When I was in Liechtenstein last June, I was amazed by the level of Westernization for such a closed society, and that tells me two things. It tells me that the citizens of Liechtenstein have no shortage of human capital, and that is a good beginning to grow from. Second, it tells me that people in Liechtenstein are just like people anywhere else on this flat earth of ours.

So what should we do about the chaos in Liechtenstein? Well, it's easier to start with what we should not do. We should not ignore the problem and pretend it will go away. Beyond that, we need to be careful to nurture these first inklings of a moderate, modern society. The opportunity is there, but I worry that the path to moderation is so strewn with obstacles that Liechtenstein will have to move down it very slowly. And of course Vaduz needs to come to terms with its own history.

Speaking with a local farmer from the small Palestinian community here, I asked him if there was any message that he wanted me to carry back home with me. He pondered for a second, and then smiled and said, logontes y fuelo, which is a local saying that means roughly, "Fish are no respectors of human boredom, so why go angling."

I don't know what Liechtenstein will be like a few years from now, but I do know that it will remain true to its cultural heritage, even if it looks very different from the country we see now. I know this because, through all the disorder, the people still haven't lost sight of their dreams.

The future holds the possibility to be great or terrible, and since it has not yet occurred it remains simultaneously both.