America: Freedom to Fascism

America: Freedom to Fascism is a 2006 conspiracy film by Aaron Russo, covering a whole bag of conspiracy subjects (ID Cards, globalization, false flag terrorism, the IRS, etc.), but primarily focusing on the illegality and immorality of both income tax and the Federal Reserve.

In the film, Russo trots out predictable Libertarian nonsense about how the Federal Reserve is not a government agency and is in fact a system of privately-held for-profit corporations, that dollars are actually valueless as they are not backed by gold, and that the federal income tax was never actually ratified and is wholly unconstitutional.

Promotional lies
Before the film even premiered in the US, Russo engaged in distortion and deception to promote it. Prior to its limited release in July 2006, Russo put out promotional material stating that the film and was shown to "packed audiences" and "received widespread acclaim" and "standing ovations" at the 2006 Cannes Film Festival (these claims are repeated on the still-functioning Freedom to Fascism website ). However, according to a New York Times article, the film was not even on the program at the Cannes Film Festival that year, much less shown more than once. In reality, Russo rented an inflatable screen and showed the film on the beach in Cannes whilst the Festival was running, to an audience somewhere in the region of 50 people.

Quote Mining
As with many films of its ilk, America: Freedom to Fascism features many quotes being taken out of context in order to make them seemingly agree with Russo's viewpoint, or to wholly misrepresent what a particular figure said and make it sound sinister.

Quotation of U.S. District Judge James C. Fox
Aaron Russo reads a quote attributed to U.S. District Judge James C. Fox:

The film does not mention the specific court case, which is Sullivan v. United States in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of North Carolina, case no. 03-CV-39 (2003). In the case, the plaintiffs attempted unsuccessfully to prevent the deployment of troops to Iraq. The comments with respect to the Sixteenth Amendment did not constitute a ruling in the case (see Stare decisis) and were mentioned only in passing (see Obiter dictum). The transcript reads (in part):

The comments by Judge Fox were mentioned in passing, without judicial review, and in a case that has nothing to do with the 16th Amendment.

Quotation of Mayer Amschel Rothschild
A popularly-alleged quote by Mayer Amschel Rothschild is displayed:

The narrator in the film then states "[Rothschild] knew that he and the other bankers would now control the laws of the nation," which gives the impression that Rothschild was involved in passing the Federal Reserve Act. The Federal Reserve Act was passed, however, in 1913; Rothschild died in 1812. Paul M. Warburg, a representative of the Rothschild banking dynasty in England and France, did play an essential role in the creation of the Federal Reserve.

Quotation of President Wilson
Aaron Russo reads a quote widely attributed to Woodrow Wilson:

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, and originally reads:

The final sentence (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:

Quotation of Mussolini
Similarly, Russo uses a quotation that has for some time been attributed to Benito Mussolini, the authenticity of which has been called into serious doubt. :

Probably, the complete quote in Italian is:

Translation:

Quotation of President Bill Clinton
The film displays a quote:

What Clinton actually said (on March 1, 1993 ) was:

Quotation of Charles Rossotti
The film shows part of a story on 60 Minutes from April 3, 2001 where, then IRS commissioner Charles Rossotti, states:

This followed by a short clip of Disney's Pinocchio with his nose growing, implying that Rossotti was lying. It is implied by the placement of the Rossotti clip that he is referring to a 100% success rate in 'shooting down' the arguments of individuals who argued that there is no law requiring them to pay taxes. The broadcast, however, was specifically regarding small business owners who had stopped withholding taxes from employee paychecks, and it is about this issue that his statement was made.

Quotation of Judge Kent Dawson
Russo includes in text the following from a case against Irwin Schiff : Irwin Schiff: "But the Supreme Court said ..."

Judge Dawson: "Irrelevant! Denied!"

Irwin Schiff: "The Supreme Court is irrelevant???[sic]"

Judge Dawson: "Irrelevant! Denied!"

This is followed by Russo's verbal statement:

The first line of Schiff's statement in full is "But the Supreme Court said in the Cheek decision". In what follows, Dawson was stating that the Cheek v. United States decision was irrelevant to the particular argument that Schiff was trying to make at the time and not that Supreme Court decisions in general are irrelevant.

First Amendment
In the film, it is stated:

The text of the first amendment is as follows:

In other words, while you have the right to ask questions to the government, nowhere does the First Amendment say that the government has to answer you.