Aaron Russo’s controversial documentary America: Freedom to Fascism is a frightening examination of the real power that makes the world go around: the Federal Reserve Bank and the central banking and credit system. The film, which premiered at the Cannes Film Festival, explores the legality of the 1913 Federal Reserve Act and the 16th Amendment, which provides for the graduated income tax. Russo and an eccentric cadre of Libertarian “tax protesters” claim this is the largest hoax ever perpetrated on the American people. Everyone from the New York Times to Wikipedia disagrees with them, but Russo says they are all wrong. We caught up with Aaron shortly after he returned from holistic cancer treatment in Germany as he prepared for the wide release of his film.
Conscious Choice: Why did you make this film? What do you hope to accomplish?
Aaron Russo: It’s a wake-up call for the American people. I want to stop One World Government—call it globalization, call it the WTO, call it the “New World Order,” call it whatever you want, it all destroys national sovereignty—and shut down the Federal Reserve. I know the truth of what’s going down in this country, which the media doesn’t tell you about. And being a person who knows how to make a movie, and because I’ve had a lot of political experience [Russo ran for the Libertarian presidential nomination in 2004], I wanted to combine the two to teach people how we are losing our freedoms and heading into slavery. I did it so Americans could join together and stop being so polarized, and hopefully reverse the takeover of our government.
The New York Times savaged you, and even Wikipedia thinks you are wrong. Why do you expect people to believe you?
It was intentional deceit on the part of The New York Times, and their writer, David Cay Johnston, is a liar. Their job is to defend the system. I offered to put Johnston into the movie and he refused. His whole point was that I was wrong, that there is a law about the income tax, and that it is constitutional. I never said it wasn’t constitutional. What I am saying is that the Supreme Court has defined “income” as “corporate profits or gains,” but the IRS defines income as money received as wages for our labor. The IRS is wrong. The Supreme Court ruled on eight separate occasions that the 16th Amendment [providing for the Income Tax] does not give the government the power to tax our wages or labor. The IRS code, no matter what it says, does not trump Supreme Court decisions.
What has been your experience since the film’s release? Have you been subjected to any intimidation or harassment?
No.
You’ve attempted to start a movement to “shut down the Federal Reserve,” and your website calls for volunteers “to help further the cause of freedom.” How are your efforts going, and how many volunteers do you have?
We have 20,000 people signed up to volunteer, and 10,000 on a petition to shut down the Federal Reserve. But the petition has not yet gone out to the general public in any broad way. The movie is having its wide release this fall, so most of the public hasn’t seen it yet.
Say your movement is successful in shutting down the Fed…what takes its place? Won’t it cause a total collapse of our economic system?
Of course not. The Fed has only been around since 1913, and it’s clear in the Constitution that only Congress has the right to print money, backed by gold or other precious materials. The money the Fed prints right now…it’s Monopoly money…it’s backed by nothing. No gold, no precious metals. It’s just paper [the dollar is only worth $.04]. And the more of it they print, the less it is worth, and the more things cost. But you see, not only does the Federal Reserve do that, make money out of thin air and destroy the value of the currency, but they also do it through debt, so when they put money into the economy, people have to borrow it to get it…at interest. Not only is there inflation, there is also massive debt associated with the inflation. People are in hock in this country to the n-th degree. If Congress took back the right to print money, based upon a gold standard that limits the amount you can actually print, we wouldn’t have all this debt or these ridiculous interest rates.
It’s important to understand that most of your income tax goes to pay down interest on the national debt. If Congress printed the money, there would be no interest.
Journalist Mike Ruppert, who appeared in your film, has suddenly moved to Venezuela because he says he’s been “infiltrated” one too may times, is too old to keep fighting, and that there is “nothing left in America to fight for.” What do you think of all that?
It saddens me. He may be correct, but I don’t feel that way. I feel there are millions of people in America who want to make a change. It seems like we have three choices these days: 1) leave the country, 2) fight back, or 3) live within the country, but mind your own business. Mike made the choice to leave, I made the choice to stay and fight, and most people will chose to do nothing and become slaves.
Even if you are wrong about the legality of the IRS and the Fed, what do you think people should know, or do?
I don’t understand the question. The Supreme Court says its illegal, how can it be legal? The “mountain of evidence” refuting my claims are all coming from the lower courts, in direct contravention to Supreme Court rulings. So it’s corruption in the lower courts first and foremost. [Convicted tax avoider] Irwin Schiff tried to tell a jury there was no law, and the judge replied, “I will not allow the law in my courtroom.” When Schiff brought up the eight different Supreme Court rulings defining “income,” the judge said the Supreme Court was “irrelevant.” That’s what we’re up against.
For more on “America: Freedom to Fascism” read Charles’ essay, “The Patriots and the Pernicious Paymasters.”
Charles Shaw is the editor-in-chief of Conscious Choice magazine in Chicago.