Recently, I had the intense pleasure of reading two letters that were fascinating both in terms of content and source. The first letter was written by a Mr. Gilbert who is a Bermudian who I understand resides in the Bahamas. The second was by another Bermudian, Mr. Bob Richards, who lives in Warwick. Mr. Gilbert wrote a very sober letter about Independence which had the underlying theme that Bermuda should prosper under Independence just as the Bahamas has done.

Mr. Richards carried out an economic analysis of the Bermuda economy that was a thoughtful and very positive appraisal of the causes of the current housing inflation. Mr. Richards is the son of Bermuda?s first Black Premier, Sir Edward Richards. More importantly, he is a former banker, Officer and Director of the Bermuda Monetary Authority, funds manager for Shell Oil of Bermuda and currently the owner of his own investment company.

My pleasure in reading the comments by these two gentlemen was that they represent a growing breed of Bermudians who are black and are quite comfortable delving in the realm of International Trade and its associated money flows. They both know and are not afraid to proclaim that Bermuda?s good fortune reflects the willingness of Bermudians to do whatever is necessary to compete successfully for a fair share of the World Economy.

The fact that Bermuda enjoys a GDP per-capita that is among the highest in the world is evidence that to date the citizens of this little island have been competing effectively with the economic giants of the world. Bermuda is not where it is today because of the generosity of the United States or of England, for that matter. Bermuda is where it is because of a long history of imaginative leaders and an industrious population that were not afraid to take risks to achieve a better standard of living.

This industry and willingness to take risks, if the reward promised to be substantial, have been hallmarks of our development. History records that during the American War of Independence, Bermudians repaired and outfitted English warships assigned to put down the revolt in the American colonies, while at the same time smuggling gunpowder to the rebelling American states to kill Englishmen. Later, in the early years of the last century, Bermudians supported prohibition. Yet many Bermudians made their fortunes smuggling liquor to the United States. Clearly, Bermuda has a long and fascinating history of hunting with the hounds and running with the hares.

And let us not be deceived that this behaviour is an anachronism of the past. Today, while proclaiming undying love for the citizens of our mighty neighbour, we still make it possible for their industrial giants to avoid the payment of taxes that those same citizens sorely need to maintain adequate health and education services.

Make no mistake about it; Bermuda is not a tax haven. We simply make it possible for American corporations to carry out their insurance and reinsurance activity without the severely restrictive administrative procedures and processes at the several levels of government in the world?s greatest economy. Meeting the requirements of city, county, state and federal government must wreak havoc on the psyche of many a corporate chief executive. Hence, it is to the credit of Bermuda?s thriving capitalist classes that the opportunity to reduce the administrative burden of these giant corporations had the potential of securing a tidy profit. Hence, they created a reinsurance industry and the rest is history.

However, that is not the point of this dissertation. The real point is that it is clear that from the writings of the two writers to whom I referred earlier, that Bermuda is rapidly developing a cadre of Bermudians that have the ability, the imagination and the courage to meet the challenges of a hostile American president and to do what is necessary to protect the sources of our economic well being.

By the way, when I refer to the likelihood of a hostile American President, I refer not only to a victory by Mr. Bush but equally with respect to a victory by Mr. Kerry. My problem with Mr. Bush is that he seems to want to take apart any country that does not agree with American policy, whatever that might be and no matter how contradictory.

Remember America has a history of having a contradictory foreign policy. The war of Independence was fought to protect the inalienable right of all people to self-determination. Yet, while these lofty words were being used to stimulate an angry American public to take up arms against Imperial England, there was little or no thought given to the fact that there were millions of Americans that were slaves.

Even today, Bermuda is being castigated by the US Consul for attempting to establish an economic relationship with Cuba while American business are scrambling to make inroads in the economy of Communist China with the full support of the Federal Government and Mr. Bush.

A victory by Mr. Kerry promises equally gloomy prospects for Bermuda. Mr. Kerry is sworn to combat the growing phenomenon of ?outsourcing of jobs? and improving education and health care systems. He cannot back off from these positions because much of his support base ? trade unions and the populations of the inner cities ? are deeply concerned about these issues. Hence, if Mr. Kerry wins, one can expect some effort from the new administration to keep both jobs and potential tax revenue in the US to the possible detriment of Bermuda?s economy.

We may conclude that American politics is like Florida?s swamps. These swamps are innocent appearing nature preserves, but if one is intending to wade in the calm waters, one needs to be strongly aware that these swamps contain poisonous snakes and alligators.

Thank God Bermuda is developing leaders who not only know there are alligators and snakes in the swamp of American politics but they know where the creatures are and how to avoid them.