By Barry Hess
America lost another soldier today. He fought for individual freedom on the front
lines in the war between Good and Evil.
When I got the call, I sat frozen for a long time remembering
all the times he and I had argued, laughed and plotted together to restore
America to her long lost glory. I
couldn’t help but smile because I truly loved the man and the memories we
shared. The good stuff overwhelmed any
of the less than fond memories.
I lost my friend, “Babes”, you lost, Aaron Russo, a man who
believed in America and who was willing to step out front to protect her. It was clear to me that though he had
achieved incontrovertible success in the commercial movie industry with such
hits as “The Rose”, “Trading Places”, “Teachers”, “Wise Guys” and many others,
along with his forwarding the careers of, Led Zepplin, Bette Midler and The
Manhatten Transfer, still he said his greatest achievement, by far, was his
independent film, “America: Freedom to Fascism”.
He did the commercial stuff for money, he did “Freedom to
Fascism” for America—and all out of his own pocket. He loved America.
Some years ago, when he told me he felt compelled to put his
fingerprints on the Income Tax Honesty movement with what I called, “another
tax protestor movie”, I did all that I could to discourage him. I really believed he could better spend his
time. Wow, was I ever wrong! It only took one look at the first cut to set
me straight. That’s when I saw how
powerful it was to finally add the Hollywood touch to the social disease they
call the Income Tax.
The effects of his finished product have been astounding,
and this is only just beginning…
One of my favorite memories of Aaron was when he, Steve Gordon
and I were sitting in a Denny’s in Kansas City.
It was well after midnight on a day that offered no time to eat on the
campaign trail. We were doing a little
role-playing for the next day’s event to roust support for his bid to be the
Libertarian nominee for President. I was
playing Aaron, and getting into ranting about the warmonger’s “Free Speech
Zones”. I stood up as though I was
mocking him and blurted out, “We want ALL of our Freedoms—ALL OF THE TIME!”.
He stopped and got a real Hollywood twinkle in his eye and
said that was it, that was his message!
He loved the phrase and wouldn’t stop talking about it. I am grateful for that moment and only wish I
could express how it pleased me to give him that tiny piece of inspiration.
My family’s heart and prayers go out to Heidi, Max and
Sam. I’ll always remember my friend,
“Babes”—he was a good man who was willing to do the right thing. We will miss him dearly. He’s got the Freedom he worked so hard for.
Now it falls to you and I to continue the fight to protect
the only legacy of any value that we might leave the next generation—their
birthright of individual freedom.
“We’ll see ya later, Babes”.
I’ve attached my favorite video of him on the campaign
trail. The Fox (Faux) News interviewer was
trying to minimize him…did she?
If you knew him, or of him, and his work send along a note
to his family at his address: AaronRusso@MSN.com.
