[Blue]

You'd be surprised exactly how "free" these countries really are. And your brief statements completely brush off the fact that these countries are "free" now, but definitely were not even 20 years ago. Let's take Taiwan for example. Chiang Kai-shek ruled with an iron fist for many years, and his KMT party ruled the country until they were finally beaten in 2000. While on the outside things look pretty democratic, it's not as democratic as it may appear.

Singapore is another great example, perhaps the best out of the four I've mentioned (South Korea, Japan, Taiwan, Singapore).

I didn't brush anything off. My point was that the economy first is not what provides freedom. Chiang Kai-shek may have ruled with an iron fist but Mao squashed people with tanks more than once.