From a tiny plane high above the Milford Sound in New Zealand, I'm Tim Dessier, and this is Heritage Explains. I really needed to get away.

Seriously, when you work in D.C., there comes a point when you say to yourself, just get me out of this swamp.

So where do you go? For me, I go as far away as I can get. That's why in the past four years,

I've been to New Zealand three times. You can't get any further away before you start coming back.

But it's not just the distance.

It's the tradition and excitement of seeing a rugby match.

If you don't know, that's the New Zealand national rugby team called The All Blacks.

Before each game, they do a ceremonial dance or challenge called the Haka.

I'll link to it in our show notes if you haven't seen it before. But what about the scenery?

But what about the scenery? In the background, you can hear Queenstown, New Zealand.

It's a scenic town surrounded by snowy jagged peaks and water that is the clearest turquoise and blue that you've ever seen.

Just Google photos of it.

On any given day, you can close your eyes and hear a waterfall, or runners running through a park, or people laughing over a local brew.

Or how about someone sitting by a lake playing a hang tank drum?

This all helps make up the soundtrack for New Zealand.

In fact, it's a place that I go to in my mind when I need to escape from everyday life.

But it's not just because it has beautiful scenery, wonderful people with cool accents, and great food, although these are major positives. It's special because it's one of

the few places in this world that actually has a good handle on government and a firm grasp

on their identity as a nation and as a friend and ally to the United States.

America's political culture is very different to New Zealand, I would say.

In New Zealand, the greatest virtue a politician can display is listening to the people.

In practice, that often means listening to the median voter.

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