Is it possible that the torch of liberty burns brighter on the steppes of Mongolia than on the steps of the U.S. Capitol? This past weekend, I had the honor of meeting a delegation of Mongolian women at a tea sponsored by the Maryland Federation of Republican Women in the lovely Chevy Chase home of Jacquie Phillips, and I was blown away by the Mongolians enthusiasm for representative democracy. The women are visiting the United States this month to learn more about grassroots political campaigning because eight of them are running for seats in Mongolia s 76-member parliament this June. Since they come from a very male-dominated culture, and only six members of parliament are currently women, theirs is an uphill climb. A recent law requiring 30 percent of all candidates for political office to be female has since been repealed. But the women all exuded a sunny confidence that they will prevail despite the odds. Delegation chair Manaisaikhan Manai Darzan, a 44-year old mother of three sons and the general secretary of the Democratic Party in the Bayangold District, told me through a translator that she hopes to convince voters in her country, which is dominated by the ex-communist Mongolian Peoples Revolutionary Party, that women need more political respresentation. Tungalag Tungaa Dorj, 47, is a lecturer whose two daughters are pursuing graduate degrees in Japan. I am very happy to see first-hand American democracy, she said, adding that globalization has made Mongolia s precarious location between two giants less of a problem than before. We are very happy to consider the United States our neighbor, she said. Twice the size of Texas, Mongolia is one of the most sparsely populated countries in the world. Sandwiched between Russia and China, a third of its population of 2.7 million live in the capital city of Ulan Baator; another third are nomadic herders who live in gers as their ancestors did for centuries. But Mongolia also has one of the world s highest proportions of university graduates and most of the doctors, lawyers and academics are women. I asked Voice of America retiree Marie Ciliberti if the women had any chance of winning their races. Why not? They already run the country, she replied. Mongolians once literally ruled the world. In 1182, the great Genghis Khan s empire extended from Beijing all the way to the Caspian Sea. His grandson, Kublai Khan, is best known for totally subjugating China. But even great empires rise and then eventually fall, so in 1644 they were taken over by their ancient enemy, the Manchus, who established the Qing Dynasty. When China s last dynasty fell apart in 1911, the Mongolians declared their independence. But they were soon taken over by the Russians and Mongolia became a satellite state of the Soviet Union until 1990, when once again it became a free nation. President George W. Bush was the first sitting U.S. president to visit this central Asian democracy in a trip there last November to thank the Mongolians for joining the Coalition Forces in Iraq and sending peacekeepers to war-ravaged Sierra Leone. U.S. forces are proud to serve beside such fearless warriors, Bush told them, comparing radical Islamists to the communists. Both our nations were settled by pioneers on horseback who tamed the rugged plains. Both our nations shook the yoke of colonial rule and built successful free societies. Investors have responded to Mongolians new openness to foreign capital and ideas and their embrace of free markets.Deposits in the government run Ag Bank (which went bankrupt twice in the 1990s) doubled after it was privatized. The great irony is that as America seems to be abandoning capitalism and heading towards a kind of creeping socialism, Mongolia of all places! is happily moving in quite the opposite direction.