America: Freedom to Fascism

Overview
America: Freedom to Fascism is a documentary film by well-known filmmaker Aaron Russo. It is available both in DVD format for a relatively low price and for free on Google Video. The official site links directly to the Google Video, so that release appears to be both authorized and encouraged by the copyright holder (presumably Mr. Russo).

In the process of trying to determine what law requires that Americans pay income tax, Mr. Russo digs into the origins of the IRS and the current monetary system, and concludes that the present system is both unconstitutional and fascistic.

In summary, though, it looks as if the wikipedia article about the film has done a pretty thorough job of examining the various claims made in the film from a legal point of view, and there don't seem to be any substantial points left to examine.

The film does, however, raise some questions about some of the basic governmental decisions which have been made in the past century or so, and it may be worthwhile to look at these questions more closely. A partial list follows:


 * What is the value of having currency not backed by a tangible commodity, such as gold?
 * Who owns the Federal Reserve? How is it governed?
 * Who allowed the Federal Debt to climb to the point where income tax is completely eaten up by the interest payments? (assuming this is true)
 * Via what laws and systems are the American people, as individuals, bound to be held responsible for that debt?
 * Where can complete accountings of the Federal budget be found online?
 * Why did the security staff at the IRS building attempt to prevent Russo from filming, and not allow him to film in the building?

Links

 * official web site
 * Google Video: Director's Authorized Version, 1 hr 51 min 16 sec

discussion

 * 2010-04-04 Is There Any Law Requiring the Average American Citizen to Pay Income Tax?

Outline
in progress

Quotations
Quotations cited in the film
 * "In a time of deceit telling the truth is a revolutionary act." – George Orwell
 * "Give me control of a nation's money supply, and I care not who makes its laws." – Mayer Rothschild, Private Banker
 * "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." – Woodrow Wilson, 1919
 * "The only difference between a tax man and a taxidermist is that the taxidermist leaves the skin." – Mark Twain
 * "The power to tax is the power to destroy." – Supreme Court Chief Justice John Marshall
 * "We can't be so fixated on our desire to preserve the rights of ordinary Americans." – Bill Clinton, 1993-03-11
 * "Legal opponents of President Bill Clinton were singled out for tax audits." – Paul Breslan, IRS Official, from court records
 * "None are more hopelessly enslaved than those who falsely believe they are free." – Goethe

Related Topics

 * wikipedia:
 * America: From Freedom to Fascism
 * Tax protester constitutional arguments
 * The Law that Never Was (book shown in the film but not otherwise mentioned)