America: From Freedom to Fascism

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America: Freedom to Fascism
Directed by	Aaron Russo
Produced by	Aaron Russo Richard Whitley
Written by	Aaron Russo
Starring	Katherine Albrecht Joe Banister Dave Champion Vernice Kuglin Rep. Ron Paul Aaron Russo Irwin Schiff
Distributed by	Cinema Libre Studio
Release date(s)	July 28, 2006
Running time	95 min
Language	English
IMDb profile

America: Freedom to Fascism is a 2006 film by Aaron Russo. It was exhibited in theaters in select U.S. cities.^[1]

This documentary covers many subjects regarding tax protester arguments including: the Internal Revenue Service (IRS), income tax, the Federal Reserve System, national ID cards (REAL ID Act), human-implanted RFID tags (Spychips), Diebold electronic voting machines,^[2] globalization, the possibility of America becoming a police state, Big Brother, and the alleged use of terrorism by government as a means to diminish the citizens' rights.

Some of the premises of the film include:

• The Federal Reserve banking system is unconstitutional and has maxed out the national debt and bankrupted the United States government.
• Federal income taxes were imposed in response to, or as part of, the plan implementing the Federal Reserve System.
• Federal income taxes are unconstitutional or otherwise legally invalid.
• The use of the Federal income tax to counter the economic effects of the Federal Reserve System is futile.

Contents 1 Federal Reserve issues and interviews in the film 2 Federal income tax issues and interviews in the film 3 The filmmaker's personal views on taxes 4 The film shown "at" Cannes 5 Criticism 6 References 7 External links

[edit] Federal Reserve issues and interviews in the film

The film spends a fair amount of time examining the Federal Reserve System, including its genesis and functions. The film asserts that "the Federal Reserve Bank" is a system of privately held, for profit corporations, not a government agency, and was commissioned to print fiat money on behalf of the federal government, at a fee ultimately paid for by the personal income tax (through service on bond interest). The film also refers to the fact that the United States dollar is not backed by gold, and claims that this means the dollar has no "real" backing other than future income tax payments. Consequently, the film proposes, Federal Reserve Notes represent "debt" instead of "wealth".

According to the film, the Federal Reserve System operates by manipulation of what is sometimes referred to as "the business cycle" of economic expansion and retraction by putting new notes into circulation to increase the ease of obtaining credit, which devalues the currency, then compounds inflation by increasing interest (prime) rates. This manipulation, according to the film, is responsible for a 96% devaluation of American currency since it was made possible to increasingly sever the link with gold backing by the Federal Reserve Act of 1913. The film says that this process of creating new money and adding it to the money supply is known as "debasement" and is a cause of inflation. In this way, the film asserts that the Federal Reserve Bank simultaneously controls the supply of money and its value.

The central thesis of the film may be that this monetary policy is the strongest form of governance that has ever existed, and is central to the unconstitutional, global power ambitions of the interests that supposedly control the Federal Reserve.

The film also asserts that the private interests it claims are controlling “the Fed” have been present for generations. According to the film, however, most Americans are kept ignorant of how the Federal Reserve operates through actions of corrupt politicians and an increasingly centralized media. By using what the film calls legalistic and economic "mumbo-jumbo” terms such as 'monetising the debt' or ‘adjusting monetary policy for increased fluidity of credit’, these interests, according to the film, conceal the true actions of the Fed behind veils of legitimacy.

The argument made in the film is that there is no reason why the Federal Reserve should have a monopoly on the U.S. money supply. The film asserts that, “America got along just fine before the Federal Reserve came into existence” (which, in the filmmaker's view, leads to the question of why the Federal Reserve System was created).

The film contends that the U.S. Congress has no control or oversight over the Fed, and hence has no control over the value of U.S. money. The film argues that Congressional control over the value of money is required by Article 1, Section 8 of the United States Constitution.[3]

The film includes a call to action to abolish the Federal Reserve.

[edit] Federal income tax issues and interviews in the film

Through interviews with various individuals including former IRS agents, Russo sets forth the tax protester argument that, "there is no law requiring an income tax", and that the personal income tax is illegally enforced to support the activities of the Federal Reserve System. The film refers to both article 1 section 8 of the U.S. Constitution, which grants Congress the right to impose taxes, and the Sixteenth Amendment, which removes any apportionment requirement. The film disputes the legitimacy of the Amendment. The film contends, through a series of interviews, that there is no law imposing the income tax.

One of the listed stars of the film, Irwin Schiff, was sentenced on February 24, 2006 to 13 years and 7 months in prison for tax evasion and ordered to pay over $4.2 million in restitution.^[3] In pre-sentencing documents filed with the court, Schiff's lawyers had argued that he had a mental disorder related to his beliefs about taxation. Initially, the film portrays Mr. Schiff as a tax "expert," though his qualifications and those of many other "experts" in the film are not mentioned. It is not until later that the film reveals Mr. Schiff has gone to jail.

Mr. Schiff appears in the film for another reason as well. The filmmaker lampoons Judge Kent Dawson's reaction to Schiff's defense. The film alleges that the judge "denied Irwin the ability to prove to a jury that there was no law requiring Americans to file an income tax return. He denied Irwin the right to attempt to prove to a jury there was no law . . . by stating, 'I will not allow the law in my courtroom.'" At 0:48:28 of the film, Mr. Russo introduces the judge and his statement.

Under the U.S. legal system, the general rule (with exceptions) is that neither side in a civil or criminal case is allowed to try to prove to the jury what the law is. For example, in a murder case the defendant is not generally allowed to persuade the jury that there is no law against murder, or to try to interpret the law for the jury. Likewise, the prosecution is not allowed to try to persuade the jury about what the law is, or how it should be interpreted. Disagreements about what the law is are argued by both sides before the judge, who then makes a ruling. Prior to jury deliberations, the judge, and only the judge, instructs the jury on the law.^[4]

Another listed star, Vernice Kuglin, was acquitted in her criminal trial for tax evasion in August of 2003. This means she was not found guilty of a willful intent to evade income taxes. (A conviction for tax evasion requires, among other things, proof by the government that the defendant engaged in one or more affirmative acts of misleading the government or of hiding income.) However, a civil trial being pursued by the Internal Revenue Service will likely seek restitution and penalties for her failure to file for the years in question (1).

The preview clip for the film includes assertions contradicted by official government publications regarding the activities and nature of such institutions as the Internal Revenue Service and the Federal Reserve System^[5]

[edit] The filmmaker's personal views on taxes

As of late July 2006, Aaron Russo's biography on his website for the film stated: "The film is an expose of the Internal Revenue Service, and proves conclusively there is no law requiring an American citizen to pay a direct unapportioned Tax on their labor."[4] ^[6]

The New York Times article of July 31, 2006 states that when Mr. Russo asked IRS spokesman Anthony Burke (who according to the article was credited by Russo in the film) for the law requiring payment of income taxes on wages and was provided a link to various documents including title 26 of the United States Code (the Internal Revenue Code), filmmaker Russo denied that title 26 was the law, contending that it consisted only of IRS "regulations" and had not been enacted by Congress. The article reports that in an interview in late July 2006, Russo claimed he was confident on this point. In the United States "statutes" are enacted by Congress, and "regulations" are promulgated by the executive branch of government to implement the statutes. The statutes are found in the United States Code; and the regulations are found in the Code of Federal Regulations. The Treasury regulations to which Mr. Russo may have been referring are found at title 26 ("Internal Revenue") of the Code of Federal Regulations [5], not title 26 of the United States Code.^[7]

The article also discloses that Russo has had over $2 million of tax liens filed against him by the Internal Revenue Service, the state of California, and the state of New York for unpaid taxes. In an interview with the New York Times; however, Russo refused to discuss the liens, saying they were not relevant to his film.^[8]

[edit] The film shown "at" Cannes

Russo's promotional materials state that the film was shown at "Cannes" in France. As of July 31, 2006, the web site (at www.freedomtofascism.com) states:

America: Freedom to Fascism Opens to Standing Ovations at Cannes!

The international audience at Cannes as well as the European media has been fascinated by Russo’s fiery diatribe against the direction America is heading [ . . . ]

According to a New York Times article by David Cay Johnston on July 31, 2006, however, the film was not "on the program" at the 2006 Cannes Film Festival itself; Russo actually rented an inflatable screen and showed the film on the beach at the town of Cannes during the time of the film festival. The New York Times article states: "Photographs posted at one of Mr. Russo's Web sites depict an audience of fewer than 50 people spread out on a platform on the sand."^[9]

[edit] Criticism

Four minutes into the film, Aaron Russo reads a quote widely attributed to Woodrow Wilson:

I am a most unhappy man. I have unwittingly ruined my country. A great industrial nation is now controlled by its system of credit. We are no longer a government by free opinion, no longer a government by conviction and the vote of the majority, but a government by the opinion and duress of a small group of dominant men.

However, this is a well-known conflation of several quotes, only two of which can actually be attributed to Woodrow Wilson. The source of the first two sentences is unknown, and nowhere on record can be found to be said by Wilson. The third sentence (although slightly altered in this version) is found in the eighth chapter of Wilson's book, The New Freedom,^[10] and originally reads

A great industrial nation is controlled by its system of credit. Our system of credit is privately concentrated. The growth of the nation, therefore, and all our activities are in the hands of a few men who, even if their action be honest and intended for the public interest, are necessarily concentrated upon the great undertakings in which their own money is involved and who necessarily, by very reason of their own limitations, chill and check and destroy genuine economic freedom.

The final section (beginning with "We are no longer..."), although again slightly altered from its original version, can also be found in The New Freedom (ninth chapter), and in its original context, reads

We have restricted credit, we have restricted opportunity, we have controlled development, and we have come to be one of the worst ruled, one of the most completely controlled and dominated, governments in the civilized world--no longer a government by free opinion, no longer a government by conviction and the vote of the majority, but a government by the opinion and the duress of small groups of dominant men.

Similarly, Russo uses a quote that has for some time been attributed to Benito Mussolini, the authenticity of which has been called into serious doubt.^[11]

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• Official film site
• America: Freedom to Fascism at the Internet Movie Database
• The full film at Google Video
• Income Tax: Voluntary or Mandatory? A law professor comments on the tax issues in Russo's film.
• Freedom to Fascism: Outing the Constitutional Criminals Film review and analysis at the Populist Party of America