In closing the book on 2012, I noted the loss of several dear
friends and colleagues, not all of them prominently covered in the
American media. One of the most notable was my favorite liberal
politician, the former Solicitor General of Canada, the Honorable
Robert
Kaplan, who
passed away November 5 at the age of 75.
Kaplan had a very interesting upbringing in Toronto. His mother
was part of a troupe of singing siblings, the Canadian version of
the Andrews or Barry Sisters. Among his high school classmates back
in the day was Barbara Amiel, who later made her mark as a fiery
conservative columnist in Canada’s largest newspapers. Although
Kaplan was her political opposite, he told me he had admired her
fiery individuality since their teenage years. Amiel is now married
to AmSpec contributor Conrad Black.
After becoming an attorney, Kaplan was inspired to enter
politics by flamboyant Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau. He was the
youngest member of Parliament when he won his first election in
1968 at age 32. He later served with distinction as Solicitor
General and is credited with bringing the Canadian intelligence
services up to date.
I first met him in 1989 in a social setting, over a weekend
where we had time to chat. He heard me out on my theory that the
Biblical passage which most accurately lays out political strategy
for the ages is the story of Rehoboam in Kings I Chapter 12. King
Solomon had run a relatively high-tax and big-government regime
because he had to accomplish a lot of long-term infrastructure
improvement. He built the Temple, the royal palace and the walls
fortifying Jerusalem as a capital city.
When Solomon died, the elders advised his son Rehoboam to cut
taxes significantly to win favor with the citizenry. His Young Turk
friends told him not to give an inch, to show the nation he was as
tough as his dad. He foolishly followed his buddies, stating
(12:11) that “my father loaded a heavy burden on you and I will add
to your burden; my father punished you with sticks and I will
punish you with maces.” The result was a rebellion which led to the
secession of ten out of twelve tribes, leaving him with the capital
and the Temple and not much else.
I argued that big government can only succeed if it fulfills
Solomon’s three prerequisites. A) It was a time of major national
transformation. B) People saw tangible results in the form of major
projects. C) It was stewarded by a highly trusted leader, a person
of historical greatness. To my surprise, Kaplan was very taken by
this perspective. He had not been exposed to Bible study in his
youth but he came to respect its wisdom more as the years went
by.
My last meeting with him came in 2011, when I went to Toronto
for the birth of a grandson. On a Sunday afternoon I had the chance
to sit down with Kaplan for about a half-hour because he was ahead
of schedule for a charity event run his friend, the great Canadien
goalie Ken Dryden. His main position at that time was as Consul
representing Kazakhstan; I still have his two-sided business card
with his name in English on the front and Cyrillic on the back.
He figured that would stump me as an interviewer, but I promptly
asked him how the movie Borat had affected Kazakhstan’s
reputation. He immediately began to laugh and said that was the
sharpest question he had heard from any reporter since he took the
job. The following is his entertaining and humble answer.
“In fact I was asked to provide counsel on the question of how
to react to the movie when it came out. Like many others I thought
it would be terrible public relations. I advised the government to
ignore it in the hope it would blow over.
“As it turned out I was dead wrong. This was the best thing to
ever happen to the country. It received loads of free publicity and
no one was put off by the satirical depiction of it as a primitive
place. Tourism and commerce flourished as a result.
“One fascinating anecdote around the time of the movie’s release
occurred in Washington, D.C. The country had gotten the idea of
dedicating a statue on the grounds of our U.S. embassy in honor of
freedom in America. The President of Kazakhstan came to make a
speech, expecting to be covered mainly by the reporters from back
home.
“Instead there were American journalists everywhere. The event
was packed with press. Cameras and microphones everywhere. The
President got all puffed up and spoke three times as long as
normal. He could not believe what a hit this diplomatic gesture had
made.
“As soon as he finished his speech the reporters all turned
around. Behind them stood Sasha Baron Cohen, who then proceeded —
in character as Borat — to give a hilarious speech spoofing the
event. That was why the media attended. They were tipped off by
Cohen’s people.”
Canada,
the Jewish People, and the world lost a good man in Robert Kaplan.
As the Talmud says: “Fortunate is he who leaves this world with a
good name…”
