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Individual Freedom and Society of Institutions: |
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| An Interview with Boris Tiraspolsky by Katie Libertas |
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An immigrant from the former Soviet Union, Boris Tiraspolsky holds Ph.D.'s
in Fine Arts and Economics. He presently resides in Michigan where his
family owns and operates a fine arts and antique business. Boris most kindly
agreed to be interviewed and offered some thought provoking comments during
the interview which follows: Katie: You said you wanted to talk about Individual Freedom and Society of Institutions. Could you explain what you consider to be Individual freedom? Boris: Individual Freedom, or rather, Freedom of an Individual, is an inalienable right, given by the Creator to everyone. Any suppression of this right is EVIL by given. Katie: I understand that you grew up as a child living in the former Soviet Union, under communism. How did that affect your belief in a Creator? Was this belief encouraged, allowed, or hindered by this type of government institution? Boris: I was born in the former Soviet Union. The concept of individual freedom was entirely foreign there. Anyone believing in God was an outcast and even considered to be a criminal or mentally distorted. Katie: In that environment, how did you come to have faith in God? Boris: In order to be free in that kind of society one must be very skillful in hiding the truth. So on one hand you could not tell the truth, but you could avoid lying at the same time. People like myself were called "Within Immigrants" which were people not living by the rules as the rest of the population. Katie: It sounds as though living under Communism is living in a dark place. When and why did you come to America? What did you expect to find? Boris: Right. Socialism is a dark place, indeed. That is why they were always talking a lot about a BRIGHT future there. I came to America 1981. My expectations of immigration are based on a very realistic concept. Immigration always reminds me of death. One must "die" a little. And this is the true way for one's resurrection. Katie: Yes, one must put the past behind, and go on to a new life. What kind of life did you expect after your "rebirth"? Boris: There are generally two types of immigrants in our country. First, and alas, the majority are those who come from poor and totalitarian countries. They have never had any concept of being FREE people. They bring their psychological and social luggage they always base their lives on. They sincerely believe in GOVERNMENT and their DEPENDENCY on it. These people have never experienced any real freedom in their lives and they want just a better standard of living. That is understandable and even human. However, in five years these people become naturalized citizens of our country with the right to VOTE. So, obviously, they vote for those who represent their ideas, or should I say lack of ideas, at best. They vote for people who also believe in a big government which is going to take care of all their needs. They vote knowingly or unknowingly for liberals and socialists who easily manipulate this that group. Unfortunately, the number of such naturalized citizens is growing rapidly in our country. Katie: Are you saying that YOU had no concept of freedom, living in a communist country? Boris: Well, I told you that I decided to "die" a little. I have two formal educations; One in performing and fine arts and another in economics. I decided to forget about my PAST and begin my life here from scratch. I was a taxi driver in New York City. I had my own limo service business. I also participated in Multilevel Marketing, and I went to the University. Well, I was trying to find MYSELF - being FREE. Katie: Then your perception of America was that it was a place where you were finally free? Boris: Yes and no. My first experience with lack of freedom was my meeting with the IRS. The IRS people closely and painfully reminded me of those Soviet bureaucrats that I naively thought I had left behind forever. I thought... Bureaucrat is an international figure. Katie: What happened? Boris: There was a mistake that my accountant made. That mistake cost me my limo business. I had to begin everything from scratch again. Katie: Are you saying that because of a mistake made by another man, and not yourself, the IRS took everything you had? Boris: Yes. I had to pay such penalties that it did not make sense to keep my business. Katie: Was there a trial? A jury of peers? An attorney in court to help you? Boris: It was a small business that could not afford a luxury of a trial. My first interaction in America with an INSTITUTION left me financially destroyed. Katie: And this INSTITUTION was the United States federal government, right? Boris: Right. But I am an immigrant. I "died" a little again and began a partnership in an international economic development company which started to work on economic projects for former Eastern Europe Countries. Our goal was to help them with their transition to market driven economies. Our biggest client was the former Soviet Union. Katie: You did business with the Soviet government? Or with businesses there? Boris: I was working with the Soviet government. There weren't any private enterprises there at that time. It was back in 1989. There was only ONE big corporation there: USSR, Inc. The Soviet Government owned everything from natural resources to every retail store. The collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991 made my project worthless. So, I "died" a little again and resurrected as an antique dealer. I believe that the most creative and the most FREE people in our country are those who own their own small businesses and contribute to the society by providing the best products and services. Katie: I'd like to back up and discuss the institution of American government again. You have now been in America for some years. Do you believe America is free? Is there any real difference in governments? Boris: Freedom in America exists so far. But it is under a permanent attack by those we call liberals or socialists. And I regretfully have to admit that they may win. We should always remember that Hitler came to power after being democratically elected. Our social structure and our population have changed dramatically even in the duration of my life here. Katie: How have they changed? What freedoms are being threatened? Boris: More and more we are becoming a "democracy" instead of being a republic. Democracy is a rule of mob. Republic is a rule of law. Our main law is the Constitution. Democracy begins with rewriting this Law of the Land just because the majority of the population does not feel comfortable with some provisions of the Constitution. Individual freedom is an extremely vulnerable thing when it comes to such choices. Katie: Rather than "rewriting," don't you mean "interpretation?" Boris: I do not think that the current indecent attack on the Second Amendment, for example, is just an "interpretation." It is a vigorous attempt to rewrite the Law of the Land. I see a constant declining of respect to the LAW in our country. And this is a very dangerous trend. There is a reason for that. We are writing TOO MANY laws that appease a growing population which has no history of respecting LAW. There is no doubt in my mind that a decline of respect for the Law is one of the major problems of our country. Katie: Then, you believe that to have freedom there must be law, but that law must not infringe on the freedom bestowed upon us by the Creator? Boris: Law is a guarantee of Freedom. Otherwise it is not law. That is a TYRANNY. We live in society of Institutions. This society has created a new powerful class. The name of this class is BUREAUCRACY. They write all instructions and all regulations. They write Executive Orders. They want their own rules of the game to prevail over the Law. If we wish to continue to be FREE people, indeed, we must understand how to withstand such obnoxious attempts. Katie: Tell me your view on a global government. Is there a bureaucracy growing in the UN that will control the world, essentially becoming one government? Boris: The United Nations was created by bureaucracy and it is in fact the WORLD bureaucracy. There are a lot of exaggerations about this organization. However, there is one serious danger that I see there. The majority of the UN countries are countries that have no FREEDOM or have an illusion of freedom like Russia for instance. These countries, by imposing their ideas on the rest of the world are making the UN a truly dangerous organization. The UN represents to my mind the worst of BUREAUCRATIC development that endangers individual freedom. Katie: What do you expect the future to hold? Boris: The main battlefield of the future is where Individual freedom and institutions either government or corporate meet together. The historic development is such that we can't get rid of all institutions and declare the full and final FREEDOM of the Individual. We have to accept Institutions and bureaucracies as a necessary evil. What we can't allow is for institutions and bureaucracies to become a substitute for the LAW and give up our inalienable rights. Any weakness on our part is an invitation for despotism. It is the direct road to losing our FREEDOM for which every one of us MUST be individually responsible, and we following example of our Founding Fathers should "pledge our Lives, our Fortunes and our sacred Honor" for. I want to thank Mr. Tiraspolsky for sharing these thought provoking insights with us, and wish him well on his quest for freedom in America. May we all find the freedom we seek. God Bless, Katie |