As tax day approaches and honest tax payers sit down to their kitchen tables to calculate their fair contribution to a growing democracy at a time of need, we are given the spectacle of corporate thieves and the financial elite claiming performance bonuses from the coffers of the public dole.
They could not appreciate the public outcry because they have for decades hired accountants and tax attorneys skilled at enabling them to evade their social responsibilities. We call it fraud; they call it fair game.
We reflect on Bernie Madoff and the executives of American International Group, the one going to jail for defrauding a select clientele; the other reaping the windfalls of government bailouts. We reflect on UBS, the Swiss financial services company specializing in methods of avoiding the excessive tax rates of home nations at the expense of the general populace: U & US; Us and Them.
We recall the sense of patriotism summoned in every hard working American in the aftermath of September 11, 2001, when we sent our sons and daughters off to war against two nations: one (Afghanistan) that had the misfortune of inheriting our guests (Al Qaeda) after the Soviet invasion and the other (Iraq) having no connection whatsoever.
Where was our patriotism when it was time to stand up for democracy in 2000 and 2004? (Ignorance is no excuse: If you did not know, you had your head in the sand.)
Where was our patriotism when it was time to defend the Bill of Rights from the greatest assault since the Alien and Sedition Acts under President John Adams? Where were the patriots when it was time to fight back against political operatives who spied on private citizens for political gain? Where were the patriots when it was time to stand against torture and crimes against humanity so repugnant they would not be tolerated in third world dictatorships?
We begin to realize that patriotism is a concept that can be applied to any purpose. We begin to wonder whatever happened to real patriotism: pride, duty and responsibility to the nation. Where have they gone in our hour of need? Are we all sunshine patriots? It is so easy to be proud when everything is roses. It is so much harder when all is dark and times are hard.
We recall Michael Douglas as a Wall Street tycoon and his memorable saying, so embraced in the eighties and nineties: Greed is good. It came from a world where only fools paid their share and only suckers paid taxes.
That was the model so many of us grew up with: Everyone is doing it, why not you? You don’t want to pay any more than the law requires. Honesty is the best policy in golf and chess but not in taxes. If you can dream it, deduct it.
That was when we became a nation of cheaters but at what cost? How can we blame the executives of finance for gaming the system if we ourselves do the very same thing every year at tax time?
We need a new model. We need a model of appropriate and responsible behavior. We need a code of ethics that says honesty matters most when no one is looking. We need a new patriotism that says: I voted, I served and I paid my fair share.
Conversely, we need a patriotism that says: If you’re not paying your fair share, you’re stealing from the poor, the infirm and the needy. You are stealing from our children and the homeless. You are stealing from the police and the firefighters and the schools and the health clinics because that is exactly what you are doing.
We need a patriotism that allow us to break the bank of corporate thieves and bust their corporate monoliths into a million little pieces.
It is fashionable now to blame the elite for all our woes and indeed they own the lion’s share for they exploited it to no end but we are all collectively responsible for creating the values that permitted it.
We see a homeless person and turn our backs wondering what horrible things he-she-they did to deserve such a fate when we should be saying: There but for the grace of god go I.
We see misfortune of all kinds visiting our neighbors and we offer no more than sympathy. Perhaps we have given enough. We are afraid if we give any more misfortune will visit us. If we are working people we have already given more than our share. If we are among the elite we have piled our debt on the backs of others.
What kind of patriotism makes life harder for the unfortunate?
We need a new patriotism – one that recognizes we are all in this ship together. We cannot toss the poor and infirm over the side without the waves coming back, seeking us out for retribution.
In a democracy you can only oppress the majority for so long. When critical mass is breached it all comes crashing down.
It would be well as well as wise to do what is right out of patriotism and moral grounding than to do so out of necessity.
Either way the demand is the same: Pay your fair share.
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