But Cerf offered Rand an alternative: if she gave up 7 cents per copy in royalties, she could have the extra paper needed to print Galt’s oration. That she agreed is a sign of the great contradiction that haunts her writing and especially her life. Politically, Rand was committed to the idea that capitalism is the best form of social organization invented or conceivable.

Giving up her royalties to preserve her vision is something that no genuine capitalist, and few popular novelists, would have done.

So, what do you think capitalism is? Making a buck? Greed is good? Dog eats dog?

The following generally accepted definition, displayed even in Wiki, is equally misleading:

Capitalism is an economic and social system in which capital, the non-labor factors of production also known as the means of production, is privately controlled; labor, goods and capital are traded in markets; profits are distributed to owners or invested in technologies and industries; and wages are paid to labor.

Are you ready for the definition of capitalism? Want to think a little more?
Here it is:
Capitalism is a social system wherein two adults can freely enter into any contract between themselves.

When two people are not able to enter freely into a contract – it’s not capitalism. When one adult can freely pay another willing adult to medically treat him, that’s capitalism. When another person has to be preapproved (licensed) by somebody else, or when the treatment should be preapproved by somebody else (FDA), or when the payment should be received only from another person preapproved by somebody else (insurance), or when either of them has to pay to somebody else for the entering into the contract (taxes), then it is not capitalism.

What Ayn Rand and her publisher did was a true example of capitalistic exchange: both entered freely into a contract. Ayn Rand got something worthy from this contract, otherwise she wouldn’t have entered it. And the publisher did. The idiot who wrote the article doesn’t understand it:

Giving up her royalties to preserve her vision is something that no genuine capitalist, and few popular novelists, would have done.It is the act of an intellectual, of someone who believes that ideas matter more than lucre.

Washington politicians are telling us that the status-quo is not an option, that it’s time for a change, and we should speak if we have a proposal to improve the healthcare. So here it is. This proposal is not as radical as the bill proposed in the Congress, but it’s the only proposal I am aware of that when implemented, will really reduce the price, will really increase the choice and the competition, will really be deficit neutral, will really provide free or almost free cover for all uninsured and all people with preexisting conditions, and will really not raise a penny in taxes on anybody.

The US healthcare is the envy of the world. Most advances in medical technology are made in the US. Most people with the serious illness, if they have a choice and the means, would come to this country for cure. Most Americans are satisfied with the system we have.

Yet, our healthcare has some undeniable problems.

The price of the health insurance is too high and rising too fast.

Tens of millions of people are uninsured. For some people it’s a choice, but many are not able to afford the cost of insurance.

Fear of losing insurance. Many millions of people are fearful of losing their insurance because of the job loss.

Preexistent conditions. It’s hard to get insurance for people with preexistent conditions for a reasonable cost.

Deterioration of services. It’s undeniable that over the years the medical service deteriorated despite the enormous advance of medical technology and computers. Where are the house calls? Where are the family doctors?

Here is a comprehensive plan on how to fix all of these problems.

1. Dump the FDA.

Because of the FDA the cost of bringing a new drug is about half -a-billion dollars and the time to bring it to the patient is about 8 years. If, as often proclaimed, hundreds of thousands of people save their lives every year with a new miracle drug, it stands to reason that hundreds of thousands people die each year while the FDA keep the drug off the market. And it’s just for one drug, for one year. So it’s not an exaggeration to say that millions of people die because of the FDA.

This cost and this waiting period have the chilling effect on the development of new drugs. We are probably hundreds years behind in development of new drugs only because of this.

The argument that people would not know which drug to use without the FDA is ridiculous. To get the drug recommended by the doctors, the manufactures would pay a small part of the half-a billion for the drug to be reviewed by the reputable experts.

2. End the war on drugs.

Alcohol prohibition resulted in the same violence as the war on drugs. Any drug should be available at the drug store. It’s absurd to wait for an appointment, pay for a visit to a doctor a few hundred dollars, to get antibiotics at the pharmacy (and to sign that “yes, I know what to do with these pills” form) before you get them. Making any drug available to anybody will bring the cost of the drugs and the entire medical care down.

It also happens to be a moral and practical decision as well. It’s immoral to prevent people from buying any chemical substance that want for their own consumption. After all, we do own our bodies, don’t we? It’s also impractical. Do we want to restrict access to perfume, gasoline, and other substances that could cause harm if swallowed? Do we want doctors to write prescriptions for anything but organic vegetable? There are cases when people dye after drinking a lot of water. Should we regulate the amount of water bought by an individual as well?

3. Abolish Medicare and Medicaid.

Not only it’ll cut about 20% of federal spending, it’ll stop the inflow of extra money and that will cut the cost of the healthcare dramatically. Seniors will get their insurance the same way as everybody else, through private contracts or charity.

4. Remove the doctors/government monopoly on medical services and medical education.

There’s a myth deeply penetrated into the American psyche that doctors and the government should be responsible for the healthcare design of the nation. We all know that most politicians are corrupt and they look for their own interest not for the interest of the people. Yet, the doctor’s profession is so respectful, that it’s not widely understood that they also look for their interest first.

By the way, as opposed to the politicians, I think that’s the way it should be – the doctors should look for their interest first. I want my doctor to be motivated by a good outcome when he is treating me. I want him to know that he might lose his practice if his patients are not happy with his treatments. I would try to avoid a doctor who does not really care about his interest and therefore doesn’t care about success of his practice, which is the case of all government-run and many of not-for-profit companies.

I am also not afraid of a doctor who prescribes me a treatment or surgery that I don’t feel I should have. I can deal with that. People deal with pushy marketers all the time in all other spheres of life. We can consult with others, but it’s up to us to decide what product or service to buy. I’d rather have this problem of making a choice than a system when I am not offered a certain treatment because somebody else made a decision that people of my age or my condition don’t need it. Just tell me all the options that are out there, make the recommendation and let me make the decision.

What I am against is the notion that the doctors should be in charge of our healthcare – we should be in charge.

The American Medical Association was established in 1847. Almost immediately it merged with the government through establishing medical boards at each state. And then the doctors use the government force to fight the market forces: to make sure to kill all the competition and to keep their salaries high. It was done by achieving two goals.
One, through these boards, doctors made sure that only individual licensed by these boards could deliver medical care. If Jesus shows up now and starts curing people, he would be taken to jail because he doesn’t have the license.

Two, American Medical Association has been able to restrict the number of medical schools. Did you know that because of the AMA we have fewer medical schools in the U.S. now than 1oo years ago even though the U.S. population tripled in size?

Anybody should be able to give a medical advice. If I want you to pay you for your medical advice, why anybody on Earth should prevent you from giving me the advice? And any university should be able to hire experts and offer medical degrees. If there’s enough demand for qualified students who want to became doctors, why anybody on Earth should prevent a university to help them achieve their dream?

5. Stop government regulation of health insurance industry.

Some modest proposals of restrainging certain aspects of government regulations are discussed in Congress once in a while. For example, letting people ability to buy out-of-state insurance, or offering multiple year insurances, and so on. Why don’t we let the market come up with whatever product people want? Why do we want to create artificial barriers and then have lengthy discussion which of the thousands of constrains may be released?

And there should be many different options, for a different price of course, from accidental and basic insurances to the most advanced covering everything plans. It’s absurd to think that a single plan should cover everybody. What about organ transplants? What about treatments that cost millions?

Also, a single, universal health insurance plan will stiffen medical advance. Who eill be interested in developing new and expensive treatments if there’s no chance for them to became a part of the universal plan?

And any new treatment is expensive at the beginning.

Uh, but what about preexisting conditions and uninsured… That brings us to the last step of this program.

6. Make medical insurance charity 100% deductible.

The effect will be immediate. People will gladly allocate their taxes to private charity. It’ll be enough money to provide basic insurance to those who need it and to the people with preexisting condition.

What is incometax?
Would you consider giving me a hand or at least some advice based on your experience? Any help appreciated.
Thanks. Warmest Regards, Tim

It looked weird. One tip off that it is likely not a real person is that he signs a different name (Tim) than is on the email address (Andri), and his email address also includes an apparent title (Manager), which is odd.

So I asked a few of my friends what it could be. They told me it was an email from an IRS agent. The point is to entrap me into giving the agent provocateur advice not to pay income tax, which after a quick search I understood to be a criminal offense.

This is what I found in Google search here:

Criminal Penalties
Agents of the IRS’s Criminal Investigation Division investigate criminal federal income tax cases. The following are some of the more common tax crimes:…
Aiding and abetting: Section 7206(2) is generally used against tax preparers. This section makes it a crime for any person to willfully aid, assist in or advise the preparation or presentation of a tax return, claim or other document that is fraudulent or materially false, whether or not the person who is required to present the return or other document knows about or consents to the fraud or falsity.

Why would the IRS go after me?

I’ve written a fiction book, Publicani, that is based on the idea that the government is able to transfer intellectual ability from one person to another. It’s not a book against the income tax, but it could be interpreted as such. In various interviews such as here and here, I have indeed interpreted it that way.

Also, in this blog, I’ve written in the past some posts arguing against redistribution and the income tax, such as here and here.

With the trillions that Obama is taking from us in order to redistribute to unions and banks, is he really worried about fiction authors and bloggers changing America’s perception of whether taxes are evil? To be sure, taxes are his lifeblood: after all, Obama and other politicians produce nothing. But why fear an author? Is Obama becoming paranoid already?

Perhaps not. Perhaps he realizes the effect that good fiction can have. Look at Archipelago or Atlas Shrugged. And think of the chilling effect on future authors who would write bad things about the government. If he can silence his critics with a couple of fake, entrapping emails, from his perspective, it’s probably worth the cost.

Now, there is a small chance that there is a real person named Andri “Tim” Manager out there who would like to get help on income taxes. If so, then I feel very sorry for him, because he can’t! Poor guy. Because of all of the IRS regulations, it is impossible to even ask around for advice – everybody involved will go to jail. It is exactly like what happens to the people in Publicani who have nowhere to turn for help against the government.

And the word Publicani itself, by the way, means an IRS agent during biblical times.

Added August 11, 2009

Two things happened today that strengthened my belief that Obama administration is hiding behind this entrapment operation. First of all, I’ve got a letter from IRS, accusing me of some code violations. It never happened before because I don’t respect and don’t trust that agency, and thus I am always very conservatives in satisfying all their requirements to avoid any direct confrontations with them and to keep our disagreement on a moral and philosophical level only.

The fact that some private company may be a front for this andri.manager doesn’t mean that it’s not a government operation. With Acorn, Government Motors, Banks, Unions, Pharmaceuticals, and maby others, Obama administration proved convincingly that it does not hesitate to use, intimidate, and take over a private company. These emails ask about taxes, real estate, international travel, international communications, foreign students – all relatively narrow field, clearly of interest to IRS, Homeland Security, the bank regulators, and the like. If it were a private company, just collecting emails. why not ask arbitrary questions, about divorce, for example?

The second thing that happened today was this article published in Washington Post on Obama web-tracking plan.

There is a long-standing ban in place forbidding the government to track people on internet with “cookies” and other technologies. Obama administration is asking to end the ban. In the mean time, it goes around it by partnering with public companies (such as Google) and using their data.

People, who defend Obama in the comments, what do you think about flag@whitehouse.gov?

Passover, Tea Parties, Slavery, and Redistribution? All of these are connected.

Only 53% of Americans believe capitalism is better than socialism. How does socialism differ from capitalism? Redistribution. “From each according to his ability, to each according to his needs.” “Social justice.” “Economic justice.” “Fairness.”

Paying for somebody else’s housing – redistribution. Paying for somebody else’s healthcare – redistribution. Paying for somebody else’s education – redistribution. Paying different amounts of income tax per person – redistribution.

Why do we celebrate Passover? Because a long time ago, one April, Jews got up and left the country where they were slaves.

What is slavery? Using force to get other people’s property. What is redistribution? Using force to get other people’s property.

Imagine two slaves. One complains about slavery and another does not. For whatever reasons – he may be afraid, or he may even support the idea of slavery. Does it make him less of a slave? If a slave does not ask for freedom and can afford to pay part of the product of his labor, is he not a slave? How can we then be against “… tax cuts to the wealthiest Americans who don’t need them and didn’t ask for them?”

I am not talking about small peanuts either. Those “wealthy” Americans are working an extra 10 to 20 years of their lives not getting a penny, just to pay income tax.

The greatest irony is that the vast majority of American Jews and African-Americans, people whose ancestors suffered extremely from slavery, people who should know better, are now in favor of slavery. In favor of redistribution.

“Sacrifice.” “Give back to society.” “Ask what you should do for your country.” “Responsibility.” “Fairness.” All that is smoke to cover and justify slavery.

It’s not that we have bad politicians. The problem is that we are bad. The politicians more or less represent what we want. “Get the wealthy.” We have no shame for going after the property of others.

When you sit around your Passover Seder tonight, drink a glass of wine against slavery, against redistribution, for freedom!

Image courtesy of ibiblio.

April 12, 2008, 10:30am – noon

WSTC/WNLK 1350/1400 AM

Lisa Wexler: Zak Maymin is a Russian immigrant to this country who believes in freedom. He is a committed libertarian. In fact, he is the dad of Phil Maymin, who has been on as guest many times, who ran as the Libertarian Candidate for Congress in 2006.

Lisa: Against Congress Shays and Diane Farrell.

Nick: Run twice, wasn’t it?

Lisa: Did he win…did he run twice? No -

Nick: He’s been on the show twice.

Lisa: Oh yeah, he’s been on the show, absolutely, a lot of times. He’s one of my favorite guests. And Zak is also the dad of Senia Maymin, who’s been on this show, who’s a prominent local psychol…well she’s taking psychology, and she is interested in the study of positive psychology, and she’s great. So you had two great kids, Zak.

Zak Maymin: Yes.

Lisa: You have four great kids, but I haven’t met two of the four.

Zak: <Laughter>

Lisa: …I know the two of the four. Zak has just published his first novel, “Publicani.” It’s a thriller. It asks questions about how far the government can go to invade individual privacy in pursuit of its own interests. Zak Maymin, welcome to “Live! With Lisa,” today.

Zak: Thank you.

Lisa: Sure. So let me just ask you to tell us the shorter version, if you can, because I know every story has its twists and turns. But when did you come here and why?

Zak: Well, I came here in 1980, at the point when I realized that there wouldn’t be many opportunities for my children left in Russia and the Soviet Union. And frankly, I believed that the Soviet Union was a dead body at that point and time, where it was. And I was very much surprised about how things happened. And you know, now it’s alive, and well, and kicking.

Lisa: And how did you get here in 1980, under what basis?

Zak: It was a part of the Jewish immigration.

Lisa: Oh, okay.

Zak: For Russia.

Lisa: So the Jewish community -

Zak: They -

Lisa: Sort of helped the immigration.

Zak: Yeah, the Soviet Union didn’t like…didn’t want Jews in Russia at that time too much, because of the relationship with Israel and many Jews worked in some companies related to defense industries. And when they immigrated, it created some headaches for the Russian government, so they didn’t mind when Jews were leaving.

Lisa: So, okay. So they were happy to say goodbye for a short period of time.

Zak: Yes.

Lisa: All right, and so you and your family came. Where did you settle, by the way?

Zak: When we came here?

Lisa: Yeah.

Zak: In Lynn.

Lisa: In where?

Zak: In Massachusetts.

Lisa: In Lynn, Massachusetts. You know where that is? That is very close to where my husband’s family settled from Romania, like 50, 60 years ago -

Zak: Wow!

Lisa: From Massachusetts. Isn’t that interesting?

Zak: Everybody comes to Lynn.

Lisa: And they came to Lynn, and they…they had a factory eventually in Leominster. Isn’t that sort of not too far from that area, that whole area in there?

Zak: I don’t…I don’t really know.

Lisa: Yeah, yeah, that’s very interesting. And Lowell…Lowell, Massachusetts.

Zak: Lowell, Massachusetts, it’s near Andover, Massachusetts.

Lisa: Okay.

Zak: That’s where we lived also when our kids went to Andover.

Lisa: Yeah, that’s part of where they settled also.

Zak: Yeah, when Phil and Senia went to Phillips Academy, we moved to Andover, so they would be day students there.

Lisa: Yeah, we should talk about that off the air, actually.

Zak: Okay.

Lisa: Because my husband to Andover, and my daughter’s…well all right, we’ll talk about that off the air.

Zak: Okay.

Lisa: Okay. So now, you’ve written this book, “Publicani.”

Zak: Yes.

Lisa: And I want you to tell me what the book is about.

Zak: It’s a thriller. It’s an action thriller about a family fighting against the government. There is a certain procedure that the government invented in the near future, and this procedure affects this family, and they’re against the wall, and they’re fighting back.

Lisa: Okay and this procedure that you talk about is something…well, tell us what the procedure is. Do you not want to tell it; you want people to read the book so that they know what it is?

Zak: Well…I can tell it. It’s in a way, the government comes to a person, and takes part of his intellect, and wants to share it with other people.

Lisa: That’s right.

Zak: Because, for the good of the society and for the good of this person. And actually, this book, is anti-income tax.

Lisa: I -

Zak: I wrote it with the goal of fighting against income tax.

Lisa: So …Zak, I don’t get that. I don’t get…I read the book. I like the book. The book is a great thriller on its own. It’s a real thriller, but I don’t see anything about income tax in the book.

Zak: I’m so happy. It means I did such a good job. I never mentioned income tax in the book. I wanted it to be entertaining. I didn’t want it to be a moral lesson, a lecture, “income tax is so bad,” which is I think is the root of all evil in the United States.

Lisa: You think income tax is the root of all evil?

Zak: The root of all evil, yes.

Lisa: The root of “all” evil, Zak?

Zak: All evil.

Lisa: Has <laughter> -

Zak: If you give me time, I’ll prove it to you like a mathematical theorem.

Nick: So you like Weicker [sarcastic]. Isn’t Weicker the one that introduced income tax in Connecticut?

Lisa: Yeah, you wouldn’t like Weicker.

Nick: No, I was just joking, sarcastic <laughter>.

Lisa: Exactly. You’re being sarcastic, right. Oh, I agree, yeah.

Nick: That’s right <laughter>.

Lisa: Did you move to Connecticut before we had the income tax in Connecticut?

Zak: No….

Lisa: Oh.

Zak: We were already here…

Lisa: We did. We moved the year before it came in.

Zak: <Laughter>

Nick: <Laughter>

Lisa: <Laughter> We always have great timing.

Zak: I don’t mind that much State Income Tax, by the way. I mean, I…I’m sure it will disappear once Federal Income Tax is gone, but Federal Income Tax, that’s the evil.

Lisa: Why do you say that?

Zak: That State Income Tax is okay and why I -

Lisa: No, why do you say that Federal Income Tax is the root of all evil?

Zak: It’s the clearest example of violence against a group of people that I can think of -

Lisa: Violence.

Zak: In the modern times, yes.

Lisa: Why do you say it’s violent to raise money? Tell me.

Zak: What do you mean “raise money”? You don’t raise money. You don’t ask people for money. You come to people with a gun, and tell them, “I want so much of your money, and this you can keep for awhile.”

Lisa: Well, yeah.

Zak: It’s -

Lisa: The gun –

Zak: Right, yeah but it -

Lisa: The gun meaning the implicit threat that if you’re not a law abiding citizen, you go to jail. I understand that.

Zak: Not implicit. And it’s…it’s stealing. You don’t look it as stealing.

Lisa: No, I don’t look at it as stealing.

Zak: Well let’s see, what does stealing mean? It means to take something forcefully from a person that belongs to him. Would you agree with this?

Lisa: Yes.

Zak: Okay. Do…how is income tax different from this?

Lisa: I’ll tell how I disagree with you.

Zak: Okay.

Lisa: I think that the reason – one of the main reasons – that people in this country are so prosperous and earn what they earn is based on our system of government. And if our government needs some money to run to keep that system in place, that there’s an element of fairness to pay that back for the common good.

Zak: Okay. Is…do you believe in the concept that there is something that is yours? That is yours to the degree that you can kill it, burn it?

Lisa: Yes, I think your book hits at that.

Zak: Okay.

Lisa: Yes, I think my intellect is mine.

Zak: Okay. Your body, is it yours?

Lisa: Yes.

Zak: Okay. The money in your pocket, is it yours or not?

Lisa: Not…I don’t feel the same attachment to it that I do to my body and my intellect.

Zak: But how come? You use your body to make this money. You give away…suppose you -

Lisa: Money is a commodity.

Zak: Suppose -

Lisa: Money is not my soul.

Zak: Suppose you sold part of your kidney to get the money.

Lisa: Yeah, well if I did -

Zak: The money is yours?

Lisa: Yes, ah…yes, the money is mine.

Zak: Okay, suppose you use your intellect to make money. The money is yours?

Lisa: Yes, it’s mine, but the money – the money is – the money is mine, but money…you know money, Zak, is meant to be shared with the universe. I mean is not…money is a commodity. Money is not meant to horded.

Zak: I can say that your body is meant to be shared with the universe.

Lisa: No, you can’t.

Zak: Why not?

Lisa: Because -

Zak: What’s the difference?

Lisa: You…I…because I think there is a diff…I think money is separate than the essence of me.

Zak: What if you sell part of your body to make the money?

Lisa: But I don’t.

Nick: Or you go to a blood bank and you donate your blood.

Zak: But you do.

Lisa: I would donate.

Nick: Okay, yeah.

Lisa: <Laughter>

Zak: But you do. Lisa, you do. You…you know, you come here…I…you…I supp…I suppose that you’re making some money from it or -

Lisa: Don’t suppose it, but we’ll go into that on another…another -

Zak: Okay <laughter>.

Nick: <Laugher>

Lisa: Conversation.

Nick: When you’ve assumed <laughter>.

Zak: <Laughter> Ok…bad example. Let’s assume that -

Lisa: Exactly, bad example.

Zak: For the purpose of this discussion <laughter> -

Lisa: <Laughter> You can assume I want to.

Zak: Okay, let’s assume -

Lisa: Assume I want to, that’s for sure <laughter>.

Zak: No, for – I need … to make my conclusion, I need to assume <laughter> that you’re making money.

Nick: I make…I make money here.

Lisa: <Laughter> All right.

Zak: Okay.

Lisa: Okay.

Nick: Very little, but yes.

Zak: You’re making…you’re making money. You’re using part of your body, your intellect, your nervous system to make this money. It’s not that you use… something else. It’s not that you’re making some miracles of getting this money out of thin air. You work. You could have…you know, you could have watched TV, basketball, or, you know, just taken a nap, or something. You work, not necessarily – even if you want to, for the purpose of the discussion, suppose you hate it.

Nick: Um-hm.

Zak: But you have to make money. Many people have to make money.

Lisa: Of course, most people.

Zak: And the only thing you can make your money is by using your body. There is nothing else that you have.

Lisa: Okay.

Zak: Maybe if you have capital in some situations, but this capital also was created by somebody using his body, and the body is his. How come the result of this is it doesn’t belong to you? How come $5 bucks that you have in your pocket, somebody can come and say, “You know, it’s fair – it belongs to the society. We’ll give you a quarter.”

Lisa: All right, wait, Zak, we’re going to have to go to a commercial, but I want to come back with this afterwards and ask you what you think about things like sales tax. In another words, do you think that that’s reasonable when you buy as a consumer that you should have to pay a tax on that because…or do you not believe in any tax whatsoever? I want to ask you that question after we go commercial. This is Lisa Wexler. You’re listening to 1400 WSTC/1350 WNLK.

<Music>

Lisa: We’re back. It’s Lisa Wexler and I’m speaking with Zak Maymin, author of “Publicani,” which is a great thriller, and I encourage you to read it. Actually, you can get it on Lisa’s Amazon Bookstore on livewithlisaradio.com. It’s right there on the front page. It’s a great book, but we’re talking about the philosophy behind the book. Zak Maymin is a committed freedom fighter, a freedom lover.

Zak: Yes.

Lisa: But you are a law-abiding citizen, even though you don’t -

Zak: Yes <laughter>.

Lisa: So…so, you pay your income tax?

Zak: Yes, and I don’t even take practically no deduction. I am very conservative.

Lisa: Okay.

Zak: I’m afraid of government, very much.

Lisa: I can understand that with you -

Zak: Okay.

Lisa: So growing up in the Soviet Union, that would make sense.

Zak: Yes.

Lisa: <Laughter>

Zak: Coming…you know observing things that are happening in United States…

Lisa: Without question.

Zak: …right now, that also makes sense.

Lisa: Absolutely.

Zak: And coming from Soviet Union, I feel like I came from your future.

Lisa: Yeah, well that’s really a frightening thing to hear.

Zak: Okay, you understand? You do…you obviously understood why I said that, right?

Lisa: Yeah, I do.

Zak: Because -

Lisa: We’ve been doing a lot of shows on that in fact.

Zak: Because we have…we had free health care, we had free education, we had happy and smiling people, we had total political participation of all people in the election process. Something you probably want -

Lisa: But it was -

Zak: As American you can -

Lisa: But it was mandatory and they didn’t really have choices.

Zak: Well, but how can you get health care, which is not mandatory? …The government doesn’t have any money. Government has to take this money from somewhere, from somebody.

Lisa: So do you think that…so let’s…let me ask you the question I asked before the break. Do you think any kind of taxation is appropriate, for example, sales tax on goods?

Zak: Yeah, there is such notion – are you familiar with direct taxation and indirect taxation?

Lisa: Go ahead, explain.

Zak: Direct…direct taxation – it means the government comes to you, personally, and tells you to pay, to give money. Indirect taxation – it’s a process, a procedure that government establishes, that if you do something, you pay taxes. Like sales tax or like lottery tax.

Lisa: Well what about business taxes? You’re in business. You’re doing something.

Zak: Yeah, I’m doing something, but business tax is okay. It’s not…it’s not important. I mean if…if you get rid of Federal -

Lisa: Do you know how…do you know that I have to pay $450 in Connecticut and $300 every other year in New York just to sustain my law license? Do you know how offensive I find that? I worked very hard for that license. Why should I have to pay a licensing fee?

Zak: Yeah, I -

Lisa: It’s very onerous to me.

Zak: I even…I even go a step further; I don’t think people…only licensed people should be able to conduct a law, to be attorneys and stuff like that. Anybody should be able to do this. People should…you know, bar exams should be abandoned. All of this is created so that people – other people -it will be harder entry to this profession for other people.

Lisa: Well, that’s true.

Zak: So it’s protection. It’s like union protection.

Lisa: Well, so Zak, um, looking at this world right now, and telling us that the Soviet Union’s our future, which from someone like you, is very frightening – and cannot be dismissed – to hear. Is there a country in the world right now that if you had to chose to immigrate to, you would go?

Zak: Ah <sigh>, no, United States is still the best country.

Lisa: Yeah, what about like a country like Iceland?

Zak: What about…Iceland is…?

Lisa: It’s a free country, transparent, not socialist. It’s smaller.

Zak: It’s not socialist? I think they have some…they have private health -

Lisa: They probably have free health care.

Zak: Yeah, well -

Lisa: But -

Zak: How could they – it may look peaceful for a while, like Russia was peaceful, like Germany was peaceful. You know because middle class, when you rob somebody else and create an…an illusion that everything is okay, then it could last a long time.

Lisa: So do you think -

Zak: But sooner or later, you know, it’s…it’s burning inside.

Lisa: So…so, you think this country is evolving in the wrong direction?

Zak: Yes, and it’s very dangerous right now – especially now. You know, I read a book about a bird – a big bird, Lawrence probably wrote it – it had a huge beak, and when [Lawrence] put his eye near it, the bird would move [his beak] away, so as not to hurt him. So, even nature created some mechanism for big animals so that they wouldn’t hurt others.

But we – you know we’re becoming stronger and stronger everyday. Look at the weapons of mass destruction. I can imagine that in 30 years, 10 years, maybe we’ll have small briefcase H-bomb, that every…that will be freely available to everybody. We are becoming stronger and more dangerous, but our software, our mind, is still the same that we can do something to violate another person because we feel it’s better for the society.

Lisa: The time is 11:00. We’re going to go to the news with Kathryn Grant. Zak Maymin you have intrigued me with lots of different political philosophies. Your book, “Publicani,” is an indirect reference to those. It’s a good thriller. It stands on its own. I wish you great success with the sale and thanks so much for producing all these wonderful kids out in the world.

Zak: Thank you.

Lisa: And we’ll…you’ll be back on the show to talk more about what you believe and why you believe it. This is Lisa Wexler.

<Music>

From the “MaryAnne Show” on WGCH (1490am) on Friday 4/11.

Q. Once again, we are speaking to Zak Maymin. He wrote a book “Publicani.” He came over here with his family from Russia in 1980. He is here about 28 years now and we are happy you do. So, Mr. Maymin, you are not happy with the government of the United States, or you were not?

A. I was happy, I am not happy right now.

Q. You are not happy right now?

A. And it’s not just the government, I am not happy with the people.

Q. The people?

A. Yes, and I want to change…

Q. You want to change?

A. Yes, I want to change certain things that people think about, the way they think about it.

Q. So, I understand, so…

A. Government is just mirror, it’s just a reflection of the people. We keep voting this government to the power, right?

Q. That’s correct. That’s correct. So, you would like to make a difference in the United States of America.

A. Yes.

Q. And you gonna do that.

A. Yes. I am doing that.

Q. You are doing that?

A. Yes.

Q. You are doing that with this book Publicani?

A. I am doing it right now on your show.

Q. I like that!

A. We are doing it already.

Q. Ha-ha-ha! So, wait a minute, maybe this is one of the first things we could do on my show, we could start changing things!

A. We are already changing things. The fact that we are talking about this, talking that there is a problem in this country, we are changing things.

Q. But you know, Mr. Maymin, I never talk politics on my show.

A. Call me Zak.

Q. Thank you very much Zak, I will. I never talk politics on my show. I never tlak about religion. Religion, I talk about going to Church on Sundays, things like that. But… everyone is different. Jewish, Catholic, Muslim, Lutheran, Episcopalian, everyone’s different, but there’s one God.

A. Ok.

Q. I believe this. And I don’t think the world changes, I think the world stays the same. I think the people become different.

A. I am not sure the people are becoming that different. In a sense we are still running in the jungle. And if we see something that somebody else has and we don’t, we can justify how we can come to this person and take it from him. And that’s the main problem that I see in today’s America.

Q. Do you work with a group of people that feel the same? Like an organization?

A. No, I am not a politician either. I am not starting any religion or any movement, nothing like that.

Q. Right.

A. I am just a private citizen who is sick and tired of other people coming to me and taking something from me and explaining to me that’s it’s done in my own interest.

Q. Ok, so you don’t feel like it’s done in your own interests at all?

A. It’s not even that. It’s not a good reason to take something from me. Even if it’s in my interest? Who are you? If I don’t volunteer it, don’t take it forcefully from me.

Q. In other words, you should give it with your heart, or don’t give it at all.

A. Yes.

Q. I understand. So this is why Mr. Zak Maymin is on my show right now. He is gonna make a difference in the United States of America. Correct?

A. Correct.

Q. You gonna make a difference with the people.

A. Yes.

Q. Change the people.

A. Yes.

Q. I’ll tell you, I wish you luck

A. Thank you very much.

Q. So, tell me Mr. Maymin, how you gonna go about changing people, people’s thinking. People are people. You know, you can’t really change people. Do you think you can?

A. Yea.

Q. You do? Ok.

A. Sometimes, you drop a pebble in to the ocean and the wave start and the same way some of big movements started with somebody saying “No.” You saw these examples in Civil Rights Movement in the United States, right?

Q. Right, aha.

A. There are… it’s possible to move people. When you are on the right, eventually people will understand that.

Q. You know, maybe you are right, maybe you can change people, and I just give you a whole lot of credit for trying because you are doing something that you truly believe in.

A. Yes.

Q. Isn’t it wonderful…Any questions for Mr. Zak Maymin, please give us a call. He wrote a book Publicani. Actually, it’s changing, you wanna change United States a little bit?

A. Right.

Q. Correct?

A. To begin with. The Idea is to change the entire world but let’s start with one country at a time.

Q. You don’t wanna start with Russia.

A. No.

Q. No?

A. Not yet.

Q. You can’t change Russia?

A. Not yet.

Q. Not yet. But you gonna work on it?

A. Yes.

Q. I give you a lot of credit because you truly believe in what you are doing.

A. Yes. And actually it’s very dangerous if you don’t change because there are weapons of mass destruction that are easily obtainable. Practically every country already has it.

Q. Right.

A. And maybe in 10-15 years every high school will have them. And probably Greenwich High school already have H-Bombs as far as I know, because I had two children going there. Small suitcase, you can put an H-Bomb in there and blow up cities and stuff and nothing in our software, in our mind, prevents us from doing that. We still believe that if this is done for good, then we can do it.

Q. Uhu. I understand.

A. Look at Iraq.

Q. Yea.

A. We do it for good. For good of America, for good of Iraqi people,. And we kill people. And we displace [millions of] people. And that’s what we do. My main problem is Income Tax.

Q. Ts, oh, ok, ok, you are not for the income tax.

A. I am strongly, passionately against income tax. I think it’s the root of all evil.

Q. The root of all evil?

A. Yes.

Q. You don’t believe that people should be paying income tax?

A. No, I don’t believe it.

Q. Ok, all right. Well we are all entitled to our freedom of opinion.

A. I can see you are shocked, but if you think a little bit and stay with me you’ll…

Q. No, I am not shocked with you, Sir. No, no, no…

A. Especially during this happy tax season people should at least think on whether we should be forced into doing the same thing.

Q. Well, we have to pay our taxes. See, it’s not that I am shocked with you, Mr. Maymin, Zak, I am not. I am so used to it. I am accustomed of doing it. It’s a routine. A routine.

A. Once I said Income Tax I became Mr. Maymin right away. I am not Zak anymore.

Q. Ha-ha-ha! Ok, Zak, all right, Zak, let’s do it. So as to me it’s what we do. I am programmed. It’s what we do, every year, every year, every year. My husband and I, every year, every year. So I am programmed to do it. So I can’t say I am against it because that’s all I know. Do you understand?

A. Yes.

Q. So if you show me different things to think about, maybe I’ll think about something else. Excuse me, one minute. Hello? Hello? Ok. There is a question on the phone for you. Hello, welcome to the MaryAnne show.

Caller. Hi, this is Nick. I am actually calling to ask the author question.

Q. Sure, go ahead, please.

Caller. Hi, there.

A. Hi.

Caller. What’s the main idea that you want me to really question and to think about changing along with your book. You are talking a lot about change, but I am not sure exactly what we really should consider.

Q. We don’t have a lot of time. So…

A. It’s three words. Don’t initiate the force. That’s all.

Caller. Three words?

A. Yea, if you don’t use abbreviations and count “the”, then it’s five words: Do Not Initiate The Force. But it’s “Don’t initiate the force.”

Caller: Oh. Well, thank you.

Q. Ok?

Caller. By-by.

Q.Thank you very much.

A. You can you force to defend yourself, but don’t initiate the force. Don’t steal money from other people. Don’t come to their doors and say: You have to pay this, or otherwise I’ll bring IRS and federal agents to get this money from you.

Q. You don’t like that part. Ok. Ok, Nick?

Caller. Thanks.

Q. Thank you very much.

Caller. Bye-bye.

Q. Bye-bye.

Q. Zak, I wanna thank you for being my guest today, you were wonderful. Thank you very much.

A. Thank you.

Maymin: Good morning Tony. Thank you.

Savino: And Zak, tell us first of all about the title of the book, “Publicani,” what does that refer to?

Maymin: “Publicani,” those are tax farmers, tax collectors during biblical times. It’s like IRS agents who were during the time of Jesus Christ, collecting taxes.

Savino: I see. Okay. And the book is about government intrusion. It’s about the government that has a way of taking the thoughts or the intelligence from one person, transferring it to another. Tell us about that, a little bit about the plot of the book if you could. Without giving away, too much because you want people to read it.

Maymin: That’s about it! <Laughter> What you just mentioned.

Savino: But is it your scenario that this could happen in real life or is it a metaphor for something else?

Maymin: It is both. Actually, mainly it is a metaphor, a metaphor for something that people get used to, and don’t even pay attention, don’t even think twice about it, which I find very disturbing, and may be the main problem that we have right now in America. Namely, it’s the income tax. So, it is a metaphor for this.

But also it is entirely possible that in the future it will be happening. Because there is technology already developing that analyzes certain spots in our brain, where smart people would have certain activities, and there are new studies coming everyday and…I can see it is possible.

Savino: Uh-huh, and the question that’s asked throughout is that… well, first of all, two…two things perhaps. One is that it has public support; the other is that, well, if it’s for the good of society, then what’s wrong with it.

Maymin: Okay, the end justifies the means — that’s a problem and it’s a huge… you know, I don’t want to even…I came from Russia in 1980, and I know that, sometimes I feel even that I came from the future to United States. I have the experience that not many Americans had, namely, I know that it’s possible that the entire country is wrong.

People that you know, people that are smart, that you like, and they could be very much wrong. Like, it happened in Germany during Hitler’s time, it happened in Russia, during Communist Russia, when I was there.

And Americans, it’s hard to understand this, to have this experience and I already had it. And also, the fact that the income tax is becoming…it’s especially an important threat right now, because we’re becoming strong and stronger everyday. I can see that in 10, 15 years, one person may have means to destroy an entire nation, maybe, with you know, nukes, H-bombs, and stuff like that.

So we have to learn not to initiate force. And whatever we think is good, we shouldn’t force people to do this.

Savino: Your son, of course, is Phil Maymin, who ran for Congress a couple of years ago, and is on the Libertarian Party -

Maymin: Yes.

Savino: And yet, you say you’re not a member of the Party, but you believe in a lot of the tenets.

Maymin: Right, I’m not a member of the Party. But I believe, I do not necessarily agree with all the policies of the Libertarian Party, but I certainly believe in libertarian principles, and those were the principles of our founding fathers.

Savino: And one of the questions I had is I’ve heard some people that are libertarians say that especially, now with threats of terrorism, things like that, that we’re going to be giving up our rights for the good of society. Do you see things in those terms also?

Maymin: Yes. We are already giving up our rights. You know that America is about 5% of the world population and there are about 25% of all prisoners are sitting in prison in America. We are losing our rights everyday, we were losing our rights under the Clinton Administration and the Bush Administration. And it is terrible.

It’s again… the government was created to protect our rights, not to give up our rights to protect us from something else.

Savino: Uh-huh. Now as far as the book is concerned, this is the first book you’ve written?

Maymin: Yes, yes.

Savino: Okay. And, what made you want to write the book?

Maymin: Well, I see that we are losing this fight against income tax by using reason only. People just ignore it. You give all kind of logical reasons; I think it’s possible even to mathematically prove that you cannot be free if you have income tax.

It’s like telling a slave, “Ah, you are free to vote. You have all other freedoms. It’s just you can’t keep fruits of your labor.” So you’re a slave by definition if you have income tax, and we are losing this logic. So I thought maybe, I can put it in the moral stance, and maybe in an entertaining way, I’ll force people to think, “Is it moral or not to come to somebody, take something that belongs to him, and give it to others because it’s for the good?”

Savino: Uh-huh. You had many biblical references, other cultural references; did you do a lot of research on those?

Maymin: Yes, yes I did. I found out by the way, not many people know what happened to Jesus Christ. It looks like according, you know many people think that he was born, and then suddenly about 30 years later, he showed up when he was 30 years old, and started making all these miracles. And there is an interesting period during which he was trained, and prepared for this mission, and I write about it in the book.

Savino: And one thing that I remember you wrote is, it could be controversial among other things, would be in the Garden of Eden. You’re calling basically, you were calling, Eve, Eve disobeyed God, but you’re saying, God is like the government.

Maymin: Yes. Exactly. Yes and there is meaning, the book has certain references to the Bible, and the Torah which is for Jewish religion. And I think the entire Bible is a story of people fighting for freedom. If you look at it, if you analyze it, that’s what actually, the message the bible sends us is, you have to fight for individuals’ freedom, for freedom of individuals.

Savino: And are you planning on writing any more books?

Maymin: I’ll have to see how well this book is accepted, and you know, it’s a very time consuming, it takes a lot of time, and resources from you, and you really have to like it. I like it, but you have to be sure that it produces some results.

Savino: Right, because there was about 200 pages, but how long did it take you to write it?

Maymin: Several years.

Savino: Is that right?

Maymin: Yes.

Savino: All right, Zak. Thanks very much for joining us this morning. And the book is available if people want to get it?

Maymin: Yeah, on Amazon, “Publicani,” and also you can read it free online on publicani.com.

Savino: All right great. Zak Maymin, of Greenwich, our guest this morning. The name of the book is “Publicani.” Thanks very much for joining us Zak.

Maymin: Thank you Tony.

Savino: WGCH News Center time is 8:28. Traffic and weather together coming up next.

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