Who here has seen the documentary America:Freedom to Fascism?

Question

I would really love to hear what those who have seen it, think about it! I would also like to know if anyone here has seen the movie Endgame...and what you think of this movie if you have seen it, also?

NoBushrons, I really like this article:
http://scholarsandrogues.wordpress.com/2... thanks!

Answer 1

Yes, I saw it. As a liberatarian and a person who loves documentaries, I was hoping for great things.

But I was very disappointed. I found the film to be intellectually dishonest and a vehicle for the filmmaker to further his political beliefs with blatant misformation.

But don't take my word for it. From the NY Times:

"Facts Refute Filmmaker’s Assertions on Income Tax in ‘America’"

"...examination of the assertions in Mr. Russo’s documentary.. shows... they ... collapse under the weight of fact."

"Many of the reviews in major newspapers have accepted as having some factual basis the film’s main contention, ... even though every court that has ever ruled on these issues has upheld the constitutionality of the income tax.

"... Mr. Russo says ...that the Internal Revenue Service has refused every request to show any law making Americans liable for an income tax on their wages. ... Yet among those thanked in the credits for their help in making the film is Anthony Burke, an I.R.S. spokesman. Mr. Burke said that when Mr. Russo called him asking what law required the payment of income taxes on wages, he sent Mr. Russo a link to documents, including Title 26 of the United States Code, citing the specific sections that require income taxes be paid on wages. Title 26 says on its face that it is law enacted by Congress."

"..Arguments made in court that the income tax is invalid are so baseless that Congress has authorized fines of $25,000 for anyone who makes them..."

"... Mr. Russo says in the film that the 16th Amendment was never properly ratified and thus a tax on wages is unconstitutional. This claim has been made in various forms by thousands of tax protesters since 1913, and so far their batting average with the courts is .000.
To buttress the claim that the 16th Amendment is invalid, the film displays a quotation from a federal district judge, James C. Fox. But the transcript from which the judge’s words were taken shows that while he spoke those words, they were in the context of laying out issues and that the conclusion he reached was the opposite of the words quoted."

(ref: http://www.nytimes.com/2006/07/31/movies/31russ.html?ei=5088&en=05c0d0988f58fc50&ex=1311998400&partner=rssnyt&emc=rs )


The filmmaker Aaron Russo is part of a movement often called "tax protestors" (see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tax_protester ) A more accurate term would be "tax law deniers". They surround themselves in dubious legal claims that thrive within their community, but fall short in the courts.

BTW, those pesky income tax laws they could not find? They were there in the U.S. Code for years. Check out:
http://www.law.cornell.edu/wex/index.php/Income_tax
http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/html/uscode26/usc_sup_01_26_10_A.html
http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/html/uscode26/usc_sec_26_00006012----000-.html
http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/html/uscode26/usc_sec_26_00000001----000-.html
http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/html/uscode26/usc_sec_26_00000003----000-.html
http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/html/uscode26/usc_sec_26_00006651----000-.html



In the final analysis, the film is entertaining and a fine example of political propaganda and conspiracy thinking.

And that's too bad. There is a lot of legitimate issues to be addressed with our tax system. But if you use the arguments fron this film, you'll just be dismissed as a wacko.

Answer 2

I watched it with an open mind. I didn't know as much as I do now, I didn't agree with it 100%, but it does bring some prespective into things, and why things happen the way they do. It's very one sided, and I wished there was an accurate rebuttal for the movie to give it some depth.

Unfortunately, Aaron Russo (of "Trading Places" with Eddie Murphy, and "The Rose") died recently. This was probably his last warning to anyone that thinks their taxes pay for all the services you have been conditioned to think. I also didn't really know who Ron Paul was while watching the movie, and was really surprised to see a totally frank Congress member just talk with Aaron, w/o saying "no comment" or "I do not recall" a million times.

The problems with the movie might make one discount the entire thing, don't let that stop you from watching it. I have not watched Endgame, I do not really like Alex Jones, though I might take my own advice about FTF, and watch it anyway.

Answer 3

We have a mutual friend who is sending me a copy of Endgame and I can't wait to see it.
I haven't seen Freedom to Fascism but I lived it. We have all had starring roles in that movie.

Edit: omnimog I like what you are saying about the future oil crisis. I love to meet people who actually see whats really going on and you hit the nail on the head. It's really the only thing that makes sense. In all this madness Peak Oil is the thing that ties it all together. People need to wake up. Here's another good website that shows how it all ties together.
http://www.oilempire.us

Answer 4

I have seen A:FTF. It's an eye-opener. And it introduced me to Congressman Ron Paul. The documentary exposes the Federal Reserve for what it is - a conglomerate of banks controlling the nation's currency - it's a legalized money laundering scheme.

I haven't seen Endgame.

Answer 5

ladi zania, i thank you for the kind words you sent me yesterday. you are not gonna believe this but, or maybe you will, yahoo answers removed my question on this very same subject. goes to show some of us don't get to have freedom of speech. but at the same time i think someone on here may have had it removed. you read it, ladi zania, so you know i didn't say anything offensive so there was no reason for yahoo answers to remove it. but, still, i am glad they did not remove yours and many others i have found as well along with the links to mr. russo's film.

as for the film, i found it to be very informative for me personally. because i was not really aware of all this mess about the federal reserve a lot of it was very shocking to me but some was not...like the ID implantation that is supposedly going to begin in 2008. i would suggest to everyone when that does happen not to let that ID be implanted into your body:

this info on the ID did not surprise me in the film because the Bible mentions such things as happening, before Jesus Christ returns,

"and that no man might buy or sell except those who had the mark" Revelations 13:17

"here is wisdom. let him who have understanding..." Revelations 13:18.

just as it does regarding this new world government thing. This is all suppose to happen so I believe as much as we try to stop it fate already tells us it will happen.

and i'm sorry for all you doubters out there who believe mr. russo's film or my words, and others who believe the way we do, makes no sense to you. think of us all however you choose to but it won't change the fact that all this information is true and happening and WILL happen.

i don't know...maybe when such information is put in people's faces only a selected few are meant to truly understand it and believe it...to save their lives. if you understand what i am saying and believe in this film (because there sure as heck was more than enough proof throughout it that prooved this stuff is TRUE and REALLY going on) then it doesn't sound like nonsence to you. but if you don't and are so closed-minded as to not use the common sense the Good Lord gave you then all that i am saying to you will probably never make sense to you and that's ok.

i believe only a few of us are meant to be given true understanding of these times. the rest, who choose to keep their eyes and minds closed, are meant to perish. then...so be it.

Answer 6

I have seen it. It is a Right Wing screed unfortunately.

As one who very early was involved in the Perot movement when there were equal numbers of folk from across the political spectrum, I got to know well many folk who I would never get to know otherwise and was lead into an "Alice through the looking glass" world of John Birchers, anti-tax, Illuminati conspiracy types and a cottage industry of books, schemes, and scams of a sort and level not seen on the left at all.

I met many who would have been Tim McVeigh, had the circumstances fallen their way, and the loose change folks are a natural there. There are two things that distinguish them in any crowd, both aspects of that looking glass.

One is the Right Wing Authoritarian Pathology with its special Illogic that is well described even if there is some dispute as to its qualities and origins. Even when, like loose change, they support ostensively leftist goals, they carry the RWA nature, that still gives real leftists the hives.

The other is the classic Strong Father view of government laid out so clearly by George Lakoff. Often taken in rebellion against the abusive father in the classic Libertarian fashion, they see themselves like the runaway child, in a brutal world where theft or prostitution are the only paths of survival and raw rage fuels the drive to power by any means, never with good results.

Unable to escape the Abusive Father frame, they see Liberals as the mirror side of their own horror, and cannot imagine the Nurturing Parent model that Lakoff gives as the model of actual Liberal Philosophy.

Rather than accept any point of view it is best to really look at what is said and not accept it just because you would like to agree with the speaker that folk you don't like are the enemy

Answer 7

havn't seen it- but thanks for the heads up - i will look for it

and to those claiming
"lib propaganda"
your living in disillusionment- what you call "lib propaganda" is the warnings signs of the errosion of yours- mine and OUR good old American way of life by multi-national corporations which are the "beast" which is attempting to consume US with greater and greater voracity.

please wake up before it's too late -

"fascism" literally means the "bundling" of government and business. The good old "By and For the People" is going Bye-Bye. I can't understand why these days THIS is a "liberal" concern- that is just odd- the so-called conservatives should be the ones screaming about how the godless corporations are destroying the American Way of Life -

Oil Shock 2008 - here we come!

Answer 8

I haven't seen it,but I love the black dress picture.

Answer 9

I saw it awhile ago. It was an interesting movie. The first half was a little boring, but when it got into the whole big brother type government we are heading towards I started liking it alot more.

Answer 10

Thanks for the info, I just added it to my Netflix Queue and raised it to the top! Read the reviews, looks fascinating and right up my alley!