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 Bernard Rapoport is a
human being who reaches out his hand, his heart and his
funds to help the world toward understanding and peace. He
has also been a close friend for over 20 years, sitting in
his office or a lunch discussing “How do we solve....?” In
the Peace Journey, he has been an important fellow traveler.
I remember his wise advice: “When you win all the marbles,
give some back, or you have no one to play with tomorrow!”
Here is a speech that he gave to the Business School of the
University of Texas, February 22, 2002.
Patriotism
The three most important
things I learned from my father were: 1) protect your name,
2) have a sense of injustice and 3) never let a book out of
your hands. He was a Russian Jewish revolutionist who really
believed that perhaps revolution was the only possible way
to ameliorate the quality of life of the populace. Of
course, he had never heard of John Dewey or Revlin Mumford
or even John Maynard Kanes. He constantly reminded me of
Emerson’s admonition that “character is that which can do
without success.”
This brings to mind the
definition of patriotism, which simply stated is “love of
country.” We’ve had some very new experiences in our country
that symbolize “unpatriotism”. One, of course, is the
terrorist attack of 9/11, but in many ways the new
experience of “Enronics” which should be defined as
“unpatriotism in its worst sense because a few with hubris
said, “Damn republic and the thousands of employees that
were part of the enterprise.” “Toleration,” Michael Walzer
tells us, “make difference possible; difference makes
toleration necessary.” His words are certainly a postulate
for the good society.
Some moments in time
have American patriotism at its best- certainly, Pearl
Harbor was one; Eisenhower’s unbelievable broadcast on
D-Day, when he told us that thousands of lives would be lost
in that final effort to eradicate Nazism; and then 9/11. In
this instance tolerance has no place and Americans rose to
the occasion and patriotism was overwhelmingly evident
everywhere you looked.
My reason for writing is
that I’m not angry- “I’m mad!” Remember my father’s “have a
sense of outrage at injustice.” Well, to mention one is “Enronics.”
Here’s another example of what I perceive to be unpatriotism.
In the New York Times of February 18, 2002, the
column headline on the front page was, “U.S. Companies Use
Filings in Bermuda to Slash Tax Bills.” I always though I
was fairly sophisticated when it came to finance, but I
quickly learned after reading that article that I wasn’t
nearly as smart as I thought I was. This, of course, has
been an experience. This is an occurrence that happens often
in my life. But anyways, I was a student of economics at the
University of Texas and of Adam Smith’s “Wealth of Nations,”
which is the predicate for capitalism. Smith realized the
greed instinct within all of us, but thought that the
invisible hand, i.e. competition, would be the moderator of
the greed instinct. Well, this particular article to which
I’ve alluded is beyond my comprehension. Evidently
intelligent lawyers and accountants had come up with schemes
to “legally” avoid the rules by which the rest of us must
play. Secondly, this was combined with lobbyists who
appealed to members of Congress who had riders to particular
pieces of legislation which would benefit one corporation,
and enable it to escape the responsibilities that any
patriotic company would observe. Competition is making a
better product, merchandising it more intelligently, and
paying the taxes that all the rest in the same category pay.
Well, not in the legal sense, but morally, I ask the
question, “Who do we put up with these kind of shenanigans?
Why don’t we have a sense of outrage at this injustice? Why
don’t we get mad?”
I’m reminded of Mary
Edelman’s wonderful thought, “Political history is largely
an account of mass violence and of the expenditure of vast
resources to cope with mythical fears and hopes. At the same
time, large groups of people remain quiescent (that’s us)
under noxiously oppressive conditions and sometimes
passionately defend the very social institutions that
deprive or degrade them.”
For example, in the
New York Times article, they point out that one company
made $30 million additional profit because they didn’t pay
taxes. Now if they had played by the same rules as other
companies, they would’ve shown $30 million less profit
because the payment of what they really owe. Guess what:
Their stock sells at a much higher price because they are
taking advantage of what I call an “Enronic” approach. At
least, such companies should have the courtesy and be
required to show what their earnings would be if they were
paying on the same basis as their competitors. In the New
York Time article it is pointed out that one corporation
saved $400 million in taxes? That’s reduction! Reducing
taxes can really be a meaningful objective if these groups
to which I’ve referred to were truly patriotic. All these
companies do to avoid these taxes is to have an office in
Bermuda or the Cayman’s or some other island, and they can
obtain this advantage. As ridiculous as it may sound, a
company with one of these offices in Bermuda, for example,
can borrow money from its Bermuda account, charge out the
interest it pays, reducing their taxes in the United States.
Let’s be quickly reminded that there is no tax on the
interest earned by the Bermuda parent. So you have injustice
compounded as a result of this tax avoidance scheme. The
U.S. Treasury has to borrow money, sell bonds, and you know
who buys them? These same companies! Guess what! The
interest they have received on their bonds is a result of
their Bermuda office that will not be taxable. It’s a
vicious circle! Where, oh where, is that sense of outrage to
which my father alluded?
One day in 1988, in a
park in Waco, Texas, Rapoport told a gathering of citizens
that “Taxes are the price that we pay for our freedom!” Many
times at our lunches in the years since that day, he has
said, “Freedom and patriotism are the cornerstones of peace
in this world.”
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