Are You a Good American?
By Deanna Spingola
25 March 2006

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On March 18, 2006, I attended the prescreening of the Aaron Russo film, America: From Freedom to Fascism at the Arcada Theater in St. Charles, Illinois. In the film, Russo, neither a Democrat nor a Republican, suggests that we “Stop being a good Democrat. Stop being a good Republican. Start being a good American.” This enlightening film is scheduled for release to the general public on July 4, 2006. [i] See it here. Russo skillfully wrote, directed and appeared in this masterful film. This is a must-see movie. It was a privilege to meet and speak with Aaron Russo, who was accompanied by Robert L. Schulz.

“The film is an exposé of the Internal Revenue Service, and proves conclusively there is no law requiring an American citizen to pay a direct un-apportioned Tax on their labor.” [ii] The Income Tax is Voluntary! [iii] This film is unlike anything that Russo has done previously. Although it is entertaining, because of Russo’s unique skills and personality, it is also highly educational and absolutely deserved the two standing ovations that it received. Not only did we see this marvelous, informative movie, Aaron Russo and Robert L. Schulz from We the People Congress, a New York based organization, spoke before and after the movie.  We the People Congress have several goals as defined by their mission statement. [iv]

Russo began making his movie on the premise that the 16th Amendment was never ratified by the required three fourths of the states. [v] An amendment was necessary as the Supreme Court had already declared income tax unconstitutional in 1895. Russo briefly touched on other important issues but reminded the audience that this was just the first exposé film. If actually ratified, this 1913 amendment would have given the federal government the right to tax the income of all working Americans. Interestingly, “a heavy progressive or graduated income tax” [vi] is the second goal of the “Ten Communist Commandments” found within the ignoble Communist Manifesto – a lengthy document whose directives are designed to completely socialize and enslave an entire populace.

Russo’s wonderful film featured, among others, the following individuals: G. Edward Griffin, Ron Paul, Michael Ruppert, Irwin Schiff, Joe Banister, John Turner, Sherry Jackson Peel, Larkin Rose, Charlie Beale, Bob Schulz, Dave Champion and Vernie Kuglin. Russo also interviewed a former IRS Commissioner in an attempt to uncover the exact law that enables the government to confiscate taxes from working Americans. He was adamant in his request: “just show me the law that says a working citizen in the United States owes an income tax.” Russo interviewed several people on the street who we may readily assume represent typical citizens. Most individuals believe that their income taxes are used for such things as infrastructure, education, schools, etc. This is, in fact, not the case.

Americans pay approximately fifty percent of their income in taxes if one combines the numerous hidden taxes that are extracted during the course of our daily lives. There are specific taxes that pay for infrastructure, education, schools, etc. The unconstitutional income tax is used to pay the interest on the national debt owed to the un-federal Federal Reserve, a cartel of privately owned, never audited banks. In 1913 Congress abdicated their constitutional responsibility to issue and regulate money by passing the treacherous Federal Reserve Act originally proposed by Nelson Aldrich, the same individual who suggested the 16th amendment. [vii] This allowed the privately owned Federal Reserve, a part of the international banking cartel, to “have access to the public funds in the U.S. Treasury,” [viii] to take control of our money supply and interest rates and thus our nation’s economy. “They may create and inflate money at will.” [ix]

“Income tax didn’t soak the rich, it soaked the middle class. Because it was a graduated tax, it tended to prevent anyone from rising into affluence. Thus it acted to consolidate the wealth of the entrenched interests and protect them from new competition.” [x]

“The year 1913 was an ominous one – there now existed the means to loan the government colossal sums (the Federal Reserve), and the means to exact repayment (income tax). All that was needed was a good reason for Washington to borrow.” [xi]

“In 1914, World War 1 erupted on the European continent. America eventually participated, and as a result her national debt soared from $1 billion to $25 billion.” [xii]

“Many historians would have us believe that this trio of events – the income tax, the Federal Reserve, and the war – was a coincidence. But too often history has been written by authors financed by foundations, in books manufactured by Establishment publishing houses.” [xiii] Through war, the international bankers have been bleeding every nation of their gold and resources while squandering the lives and spilling the blood of well intentioned patriots and gullible, uninformed citizens. War is a racket [xiv] and creates huge profits for those international bankers who typically finance both sides.

Yet, anyone who dares question government military action is vilified. Either individuals support preemptive, aggressive war or they are labeled unpatriotic or un-American. Teachers have been suspended for their just skepticism prompted by “good Republican” parents. Rather, it is unconscionably un-American to put others in harms way for financial benefits for your friends and family. None dare express cynicism of the administration’s war mentality. Acquiescence basically amounts to the social sanctioning of civilian mass murder.

The politically-connected military industrial complex often supplies both sides. American troops serving in Korea, Vietnam and elsewhere have often been killed or maimed by American-made artillery. It is all about money – not about spreading democracy, retribution, retaliation, national security, halting terrorism or communism or any other trumped up reason. Covert military actions are often undertaken by the CIA for the purpose of benefiting big business, prostituting a nation’s resources and exploiting the poor in third world countries.

When are Americans going to wake up and “Stop being good Democrats.” and “Stop being good Republicans.” and “Start being good Americans”? Mike Ruppert compared the two parties to two Mafia crime families. Both families are heavily engaged in highly illegal activities for which they are rarely prosecuted. They feign hatred for each other and have highly publicized shootouts and then get back to their illegalities. At least their shooting targets are each other and not the general citizenry. The deliberate distraction of contentious partisan politics obliterates our obligation to hold our elected government officials accountable to their oath of office and to the Constitution, the supreme law of the land. Campaign rhetoric and their subsequent congressional voting records bear little resemblance to each other.

Unfortunately, the population typically votes according to their party loyalty instead of asking what’s good for America and also compatible with the Constitution. Because of election irregularities and an elite, professional, well financed or well connected Republican or Democrat political minority, a strict constitutionalist has an impossible task getting elected. A prospective patriot must have substantial private money, big business contributions which suggest political paybacks or thousands of smaller contributions. One must also be able to attract a sizeable group of dedicated volunteers and there must be an unbiased media friendliness that extends beyond the two main parties.

The Constitution, although the supreme law of the land, and referred to as that G-d piece of paper by President Bush, is being trashed by the majority of our elected officials. In his remarks, Bob Schulz said: “Our founding documents are to govern the government.” Instead government, in the hands of the egomaniacal elected, has manipulated, intimidated and brainwashed the populace into regarding the government as the master rather than the servant of the people. Dumbed down by government provided education, Americans are ignorant of their rights and freedoms. It is increasingly easy to separate the sheeple from their substance. Little by little, we have degenerated into a dreaded democracy instead of a Republic governed by law. In fact, our elected officials consistently refer to our government as a democracy – is it deliberate or is it ignorance? And isn’t democracy what the administration is claiming to establish in Iraq after they eliminate all the opponents? As many as 150,000 civilians have already been killed – surely they must be willing to submit to democracy by now? [xv]

Whistleblowers are not popular with the government. The government complicit media will no doubt malign Aaron Russo in an attempt to discredit his efforts. Destroying the messenger is the typical tactic of those endeavoring to conceal the facts. Michael Moore was vilified in the popular propagandized press and by “good Republicans” who readily assumed that Moore was nothing but a left-wing liberal Hollywood Democrat nutcase with zero credibility. “Good Republicans” didn’t bother to watch his movie, Fahrenheit 9/11. They were already brainwashed as to what to believe. And not only that, anyone in Hollywood who even mentions WMD’s, such as in a recent “Boston Legal” episode, is also considered a left-wing liberal. Be prepared for the cancellation of that show – driven by “good Republican” viewers.

Those labels either render us believable or cast us as an object of scorn. Granted, a massive amount of morally degenerative garbage regurgitates regularly out of Hollywood which implements the growth of a Sodom and Gomorrah style society much to the detriment of floundering families. Washington, our nation’s political crime center, is not much better. With Hollywood, we at least recognize that the characters are, after all, actors.

“Good Republicans” are characterized as morally superior to “good Democrats.” However, scoundrels populate both political parties. There are just as many womanizers, pro-choice (which is really no choice, except abortion), open to bribery, war hawks and pork-barrel politicians among the “good Republicans as among the “good Democrats.” Both parties are on the same slippery slope of socialism. Individuals in both parties have been exposed for adultery, bribery, corruption, etc. These deliberate disclosures may be designed to take our minds off decidedly more significant events.

The lasting reverberations of Monica, Gennifer, Paula and a presidential impeachment distracted us from the horrific, continuous 78 day bombing assault, from March 24, 1999 through June 9, 2000, perpetrated by the United States and NATO against the non threatening citizens of Yugoslavia. They indiscriminately bombed schools, bridges, markets and radio and television stations. The silencing of the media is paramount in any offensive onslaught. Thousands of civilians, including children were killed. There were the customary cluster bombs, depleted uranium and the targeting of petrochemical plants which caused considerable amounts of toxic waste to flow into the Danube River.

In addition to the devastating loss of human life, the senseless infrastructure destruction cost as much as $30 billion. Their elected leader, Slobodan Milosevic, characterized as the “Butcher of the Balkans,” is no longer available to offer testimony about United States war crimes. The demise of Yugoslavia has been blamed on the Serbs and Milosevic. “It was during the 1991 conflict in Croatia that PR agents in the West started demonizing Milosevic as the president of Serbia, which was labeled the "aggressor" in what was actually an ethnic war. As clashes started in Bosnia in 1992, flaring up into full-scale war upon Izetbegovic's declaration of independence in April, demonization of Serbs and Milosevic in particular became a staple of war reporting from the Balkans.” [xvi]

War is certainly not limited to Republican administrations. Money generating warfare, whether small or large scale, is engaged in by both Republican and Democratic administrations. “Good Republicans” and “good Democrats” support and fantasize that preemptive warfare is somehow fighting for our liberty or someone else’s liberty instead of the money-making motive. Too bad so many of the alleged recipients are slaughtered before they benefit from this “liberty”.  I have a serious problem with the mass murder of men, women and children in the name of American freedom. Does this freedom allow us to do any darn thing we want – to supposedly impose our standards in the name of national security on anyone of our choosing? Just how do “good Americans” justify this outrageous behavior? Exactly which God sanctions the mass killing of strangers in another country? This is not the loving God that I worship. It must be the usurper! [xvii]

There are still people who claim we are fighting a “war of terror” based on the events of September 11, 2001. There always has to be a justification for war. This “war of terror” farce is perpetuated by numerous “good Republican” pundits who inflame the patriotic passion of the ignorant or insult the integrity of knowledgeable skeptics. There is sufficient evidence to convince any intelligent researcher that the anomalies of 9/11 cannot be answered satisfactorily by the administration and their phony 9/11 Commission. A CNN Poll as of March 24, 2006 indicates the results of the following question: Do you agree with Charlie Sheen that the U.S. government covered up the real events of the 9/11 attacks? Yes 81% 20441 votes; No 19% 4688 votes. [xviii] I don’t know what political party Sheen belongs to, but he appears to be acting like a “good American.”

The so-called morally superior “good Republicans” and their high profile NGO’s have yet to impede the mass murder of the most innocent of all Americans. All the majority Republican Congress and “compassionate conservative” administration has accomplished is the regulation of the repulsive act of abortion. Regulation only enhances legality. “Partial-birth abortion bans suggest that abortion is a right, but it should not be done so distastefully, even if this form of abortion is most comfortable for the baby-victim. (Saline abortions pickle a child for hours; the D/C abortion chops the baby up while alive; whereas partial-birth abortions gently deliver the baby 2/3 of the way and instantaneously kills them.” [xix] We may compare these terrible tactics to the depleted uranium, flesh-shredding cluster bombs and toxic biological weapons that are used against humanity.

It is blatantly hypocritical to claim concern for people who happen to live in resource rich countries and then merely regulate the continued slaughter of the American innocent – over 45,000,000 lives have been brutally taken. Pro-life is pro-life! You can’t be both pro-life and pro-war! Then there is that deliberately orchestrated un-American border situation, that un-American NAFTA and CAFTA and a myriad of other un-American but “good Democrat” and “good Republican” onslaughts against the middle class.

“The Senate will return March 28 to debate proposals to add tens of millions of permanent foreign workers and their dependents over the next decade.” Be a “good American” and let your Senator know how you feel about this invasion. Their response will allow us to determine where their allegiance is. [xx]

“Stop being a good Democrat. Stop being a good Republican. Start being a good American.”

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