Introduction: James Jaeger is a Telly Award-winning filmmaker (FIAT EMPIRE) with over 25 years experience writing, directing and editing feature motion pictures, documentaries, TV commercials and multiple-camera live events. In late 1981, Mr. Jaeger founded Matrixx Productions to continue goals set forth by Lee Garmes and Academy Artists, Inc. and the Independent Screen Producers Association (predecessor to the AFMA), of which Mr. Jaeger is a founding member. In 2007 Matrixx Productions partnered with Cornerstone Entertainment and produced FIAT EMPIRE featuring Rep. Ron Paul and Dr. Edwin Vieira. The documentary about the Federal Reserve System, garnered a Telly Award and became the top documentary on the Internet for six months. Matrixx Productions, now a division of Matrixx Entertainment Corporation, continues to develop documentaries and features.
Bell: Thanks for sitting down with us again. We want to talk about your new film SPOiLER and get an update on the film industry generally in terms of its independent focus.
James Jaeger: Sure. My theory is: nothing much is going to change under the watch of the Democrats and the Republicans (the "DemoPublicans") – even with Tea Party influence. Thus the debt-ceiling will be raised, more fiat currency will be created, the dollar will continue to devalue, special interests will continue to purchase congressmen, the welfare-warfare state will continue to grow, the values of limited government set forth in the U.S. Constitution will continue to erode. Such is the current political environment. Given this theory, Nelson Hultberg, Edwin Vieira and I felt it might be a good time to make a movie discussing these issues and offering some solutions. That movie is called SPOiLER – How a Third Political Party Could Win.
Daily Bell: Tell us how you met Nelson Hultberg and what your impression of him is.
James Jaeger: The Daily Bell first brought Nelson Hultberg to my attention. After reading his book, THE CONSERVATIVE REVOLUTION – Why We Must Form a Third Political Party to Win It and a number of his articles, I was convinced Nelson had the strategy for addressing the current political environment and to bring us back to limited government based upon free-enterprise capitalism. Then, after getting to know Nelson and working with him, it wasn't long before I realized that Nelson Hultberg is probably the most important political philosopher to come along in the past 100 years. My reasons for stating this will become clear after you read the new book he's working on.
Daily Bell: Tell us more about his third party ideas and the film itself.
James Jaeger: Nelson has isolated the reasons there has been no viable third party since John C. Fremont formed the Republican Party out of the ashes of the Whig Party in 1854. SPOiLER discusses the two reasons all recent third parties never get more than 1% of the vote and the four key issues that will cause a third party to get 38% of the vote. In other words, he's figured out HOW a third political party could AVOID being a SPOiLER and win! This, of course, is WHY we named the movie SPOiLER. We are goofing on all those who are afraid to vote their conscience, who are scared to vote for an Independent candidate because they think such a candidate will "spoil" it for a "lesser of two evils" mainstream candidate. Thus, the ultimate question is: is it ethical for a citizen to vote for a candidate that will continue the status quo when such status quo is leading the country, and possibly the world, into totalitarianism? The Democrats and Republicans have been doing exactly this for the past 97 years, so who is really the spoiler? SPOiLER, the movie, takes a look at all this and shows why voting for a "spoiler" candidate doesn't really SPOIL anything. If you still aren't convinced, read Nelson's article "Who Will Be Our Modern Day Jefferson?" at http://www.jaegerresearchinstitute.org/articles/modern.htm.
Daily Bell: Give us the rundown on how the film was conceived and created.
James Jaeger: Prior to SPOiLER I wrote and directed a number of other political documentaries. While doing the research for these, and through the process of interviewing many political experts, it began to dawn on me that we really have a serious problem because the United States is the flagship of limited republican government based on free-enterprise capitalism. In this context, we are thus a light and a hope for the entire world. If oligarchies and socialist forces are able to compromise the U.S. or the "American Dream," the rest of the world may fall under the domination of a totalitarian new world order. We are thus in the struggle of the millennium, the essence of which is: will the world balkanize and revert to individualism, or will it continue to consolidate into a universal collectivism? My films leading up to SPOiLER – FIAT EMPIRE, CULTURAL MARXISM, CORPORATE FASCISM – lay the groundwork to address this question. Thus SPOiLER was conceived out of necessity to encourage American voters to gradiently remove the Democrats and Republicans from power, and replace them with a political order that obeys the U.S. Constitution, verbatim, or duly amends it accordingly. No more backroom, special interest, politics.
Daily Bell: Where will it be introduced and previewed?
James Jaeger: Who knows. I like to joke that if any of my films are released by the mainstream media then I am probably making the wrong films. Every year, I complete about one feature – and, as a quality control function – I submit that film to Robert Redford's Sundance Film Festival. My hope is that it will be rejected, thus giving me indication that I am still making films that are relevant to the libertarian-conservative movement. But recently, I have been receiving some serious shocks from the mainstream media. Fox Business News now runs a libertarian-conservative show called FREEDOM WATCH (with Judge Napolitano) and a new Libertarian show called STOSSEL (with former Barbara Walters co-host, John Stossel).
As if this isn't mind-boggling enough, my "political mentor," G. Edward Griffin was recently on Glenn Beck and Freedom Watch to discuss his book, THE CREATURE FROM JEKYLL ISLAND. The fact that Ed Griffin has now cracked the mainstream media is wonderful news. The fact that pundits have stopped laughing at Ron Paul and regularly invite him on their shows is major news. The fact that even Alex Jones is getting mainstream air-time is major. Things are changing. I am encouraged and proud of those members of the mainstream media who are now breaking out of their boxes and taking a serious look at the libertarian-conservative agenda, an agenda that I believe can even service many of the issues progressives hold dear. Thus, as badly as Hollywood and the media have treated me during the past 15 years, I have always believed in the below-the-line and above-the-line people that work in the mass communications industry. Most of these people got into The Biz because they wanted to tell the truth and make a difference. It's just that a group of executives at the top – no more than 20 in Hollywood and probably 25 in New York City – have been suppressing the creative and ethical output of filmmakers, writers, reporters, pundits and on-screen talents for many years.
Daily Bell: Are the reactions good so far?
James Jaeger: I have no idea what the reaction to SPOILER will be. All I can say – as an 8th generation American who had a number of descendents serve in the first Continental Congress – is this film is from the heart.
Daily Bell: Remind our readers about Matrixx, which has produced the film.
James Jaeger: Matrixx Productions is a small production company that was launched in Studio City, California in 1981. Our log-line is: features and documentaries that matter. Matrixx Productions is a wholly owned division of Matrixx Entertainment Corporation, a Delaware entity with about 50 stockholders. I founded Matrixx with a number of associates. Our honorary co-founder is the late Lee Garmes, an Oscar-winning cinematographer-director-producer who shot over 100 classic films including Shanghai Express and Gone With The Wind. Lee was one of my mentors and I had the honor of working with him the last years of his life and editing his last movie, a documentary about vitamins. You can find out more about Lee and see his complete filmography at http://www.mecfilms.com/leebio.htm.
Daily Bell: Remind our readers about some of your other work including Original Intent and your breakthrough film Fiat Empire.
James Jaeger: Around 1995 I read G. Edward Griffin's book, The Creature From Jekyll Island. After reading this, I knew a movie must be made about it, so I contacted Ed Griffin and he was kind and courageous enough to grant me an interview and option on the book. At this time there was a little-known congressman out there, Ron Paul, consistently arguing with Alan Greenspan on C-SPAN. Having read Ed's book several times by then, I was thus able to follow the arcane conversations between Dr. Paul and Dr. Greenspan. So I asked Dr. Paul if he would interview for a documentary on the Federal Reserve System and he said "yes."
Rounding out the cast of experts with Dr. Edwin Vieira, the foremost authority on the U.S. Constitution and Dr. Ted Baehr, the foremost authority on the Hollywood-based U.S. motion picture industry, FIAT EMPIRE – Why the Federal Reserve Violates the U.S. Constitution emerged – and absolutely NO ONE in my family, circle of friends or associates gave a rat's ass. Even the producer of the film seemed mildly embarrassed about it, for this was the only film we had made together that he didn't screen at his weekly Bible class. Given all these things, I forgot about FIAT EMPIRE and went about my work completing my TESLA screenplay. For some reason my back then gave out and I couldn't move for about 2 or 3 weeks. While in bed, literally unable to move, I got word that FIAT EMPIRE had just won a Telly Award and hit #1 on Google Video, going viral with about 2,000 downloads every day. I could hardly comprehend the news because the doctors had me pumped so full of pain killers.
After I made FIAT EMPIRE on how the government was violating Article I, Section 8 & 10, I realized that our current political class was violating other Articles of the U.S. Constitution as well. To be able to more fully comprehend this as a D-student in history, I was fortunate to have the opportunity to discuss the Constitution with Edwin Vieira (who must have been an A-student in history, given he got through Harvard with four degrees). Dr. Vieira generously gave me some much-appreciated insights on his life work, as discussed in his books, among which are PIECES OF EIGHT and CONSTITUTIONAL HOMELAND SECURITY.
Upon these insights, I again teamed with Bill Van Alen, our producer, and we made ORIGINAL INTENT, originally entitled, ORIGINAL INTENT – How Negative Influences Are Undermining the U.S. Constitution. After the film was completed, and the Democrats and Republicans did some particularly stupid things — like cave to a $700 billion bailout – Edwin and I decided that it was the DEMOCRATS and REPUBLICANS that were the NEGATIVE INFLUENCES, thus we renamed the film, ORIGINAL INTENT – How the Democratic and Republican Parties Are Destroying the American Dream. After all, how can anyone DREAM if they are in DEBT up to their eyeballs? So we released ORIGINAL INTENT and Robert Redford's Sundance Film Festival promptly rejected it . . . thank God!
Daily Bell: Give our readers some background on how you came into filmmaking and how Matrixx Productions came to pass.
James Jaeger: My grandfather was a neurosurgeon by day and a filmmaker by night. Given this, I was able to occasionally sneak his 16mm cameras out of the library closet and, while he was making INTERORBITAL TUMOR II, I was making THE REVENGE OF THE MAD SCIENTIST. My first actors were Doug Gough and Anson Downes. Anson went on to become John Travolta's best friend where today he heads up the development division at JTP Films. Doug wandered off into the weeds and I have no idea where he is today. After getting through prep school (The Haverford School) and being forced to go to college (University of Pennsylvania) by my parents who were big on education, I dropped out and moved to LA in 1977.
There I started working on feature films as a set-bumb/photographer/bestboy and eventually met Lee Garmes who hired me as his executive assistant/editor and introduced me around town to his associates at the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences, the American Society of Cinematographers and the Director's Guild. It was fun. Lee was on the verge of raising $50 million to finance a new company called ACADEMY ARTISTS. It was to be the modern-day UNITED ARTISTS, what DREAMWORKS was to become years later. Then Lee suddenly died.
Years later I formed Matrixx Entertainment to carry on some of Lee's production philosophies. On the way, I worked with Barry Mahon, Errol Flynn's former manager. Barry helped the development of Matrixx Productions by taking me on as a protégée and teaching me computerized production management, the first of its kind anywhere in the movie business. He also taught me producing: how to finance features by pre-selling European rights and discounting CBS licensing agreements with Canadian public offerings of master limited partnership units. I worked with Barry, and his daughter and son, on about five pictures which we produced with Columbia Pictures for CBS. It was fun.
Daily Bell: Are you hopeful these days about independent films of the sort you make?
James Jaeger: It depends on what you mean by "independent films." If you mean narrative dramatic features, the answer is "no." If you mean feature-length documentaries, the answer is "yes." Political documentaries don't cost that much to make ($50,000 – $100,000) whereas narrative dramatic features are more expensive (100,000 – $500,000) if you want any semblance of quality. Why? A documentary is built mainly in the editing room whereas a feature is built mainly on the set. Set operations cost money because you have to employ many people, rent much equipment and move around from location to location. Because of these logistics, an independent narrative dramatic feature must be done on a very tight schedule, whereas a documentary is more ad hoc.
Sure you can fly all over the world shooting a documentary, as a Ken Burns does, but the footage still ends up in an editing room as a huge pile of spaghetti and it must be sorted out and presented in a manner that the viewer can logically follow. Unlike a narrative dramatic feature, it is virtually impossible to write a script for a documentary film, for one has literally no idea how the film will unfold until all the footage and interviews are collected in the editor's electronic trim bin. I am thus hopeful that independent documentaries will continue to be able to positive cash flow whereas more expensive features are still risky. Nobody saw AMERICAN BEAUTY coming, but there are at least 100 million Americans out there that want to see how their government, banking system and constitution are coming along. Thus we are now in the Golden Age of the Documentary Film.
Daily Bell: Are you more hopeful about libertarian film-making generally?
James Jaeger: I believe progressivism, far-right conservativism, totalitarianism and mob-rule democracy based on the philosophies of Marx, Comte and Rousseau are played out. All that's left for the human race to explore politically is Libertarianism and ULTRA laissez-faire capitalism. As far as the former, the only question is whether that should be Libertarianism or libertarianism, as Jessie Ventura puts it. Lower-case libertarianism is of a fiscally-conservative, von Mises type, whereas upper-case Libertarianism is of an anarcho-capitalist, Rothbardian type.
Given these things, I think there is much room to explore both libertarian filmmaking AND Libertarian filmmaking and I hope Hollywood and the New York media will continue to open their doors to such exploration. I do emphasize however that – given that state of the current cultural Marxist-infested morals of society – we still DO need government, thus I am not (yet) willing to sell out to the more anarchistic strains of Ayn Rand Libertarianism. But, IF we find that it's IMPOSSIBLE to bring governments back to a LIMITED state envisioned by the U.S. Constitution, THEN it may be necessary to abolish them entirely. Why, because at that time the Human race will have to decide between TOTAL GLOBAL SLAVERY and TOTAL GLOBAL ANARCHY. As far as I'm concerned, I would rather be a free man living in a world of BARBARIC "CHAOS" than a total slave living in a world of TECHNOCRATIC "ORDER."
To explore this, we currently have a political documentary in development entitled, THUGS WITH GUNS – Do we Still Need Governments? The documentary will be based on Larken Rose's book, HOW TO BE A SUCCESSFUL TYRANT. Larken was imprisoned by the U.S. Government for about a year because he believes that the taxes currently being imposed on citizens are unconstitutional. Nelson Hultberg, who appears in SPOiLER does a marvelous job of discussing the current progressive income tax and why it's based on "arbitrary justice," the forerunner of all tyrannical regimes. Again, allow me to emphasize to all my libertarian-conservative friends and associates: I have NOT become an anarchist. I still believe in LIMITED government. Nevertheless, I AM exploring the options. That's what a documentary filmmaker is SUPPOSED to do.
Daily Bell: What's going on with Hollywood? Is it collapsing because of the Internet or is business as usual?
James Jaeger: I don't really know specifically what's going on in Hollywood (as I dropped my subscription to the Hollywood Reporter) but I can say this generally: the Internet HAS become an alternative distribution system as I predicted when I was on a TV show called MONEY MATTRES back around 1997. Back then the "broadband" Internet was nonexistent – because video files traveled at a rate of just 28,000 bits-per-second. But now files travel at rates over a million bits-per-second thus making the screening of even high-def motion pictures easy.
This Internet-based "video-on-demand" has eaten into Hollywood's largest profit center: the homevideo market. The homevideo market is simply renting video tapes, later DVDs, from places like BlockBuster and later NetFlix. But now it's all going on-line, NetFlix and Blockbusters included. The next to go will be network TV, as delivered by cable companies. Who will pay $50 to $98 per month to a Comcast cable company so they can fumble around with an insanely complex remote control just to access 25 to 50 brainless and stupid cable network shows over a clunky, 1980s-styled, command-line menu when they can simply plug a keyboard into an internet-dedicated computer and dump the video display into a 50-inch, 1080p plasma screen and have access to MILLIONS of movies, documentaries, shows and every manner of crazy-original programming the human mind can imagine: right over the TCP/IP-driven Internet? So goodbye cable bills . . . hello ISP bills.
But Hollywood will fight back with 3-D, and that's the new thing on the block. But soon 3-D will also be available on 1080p and, in 10 or 15 years, on 2000p and 4000p monitors (which, BTW, already exist and are regularly used on Hollywood productions to originate in tape rather than 35mm film).
Daily Bell: Seems like the big films don't have the buzz they used to get. Is this true?
James Jaeger: I watch about five Hollywood features per week, so I am pretty up on the output. I would say, there is still a lot of good stuff coming out, however many of the high-budget pictures are quite generic and sequalized. So, the way to find the gems is this: get a NetFlix account and throw darts at it. Get the 5-movie package (some $28 per month) and just quickly, if not randomly, select movies. Don't hassle over any particular choice, just rapidly put them in your cue and let them send them. Then start each picture and give it a whirl for at least 10 minutes. If the movie can't draw you in in 10 minutes, put it back in the mailer and try the next movie. You will be surprised at the sleepers you will come across, many of the no-name productions by no-name people. In other words, all the talent out there by no means has been "discovered" by Hollywood. In fact, Hollywood is usually the LAST place to discover talent. The rise of STAR SEARCH-shows and other such, proves beyond a doubt that talent is all over the freaking planet. All you have to do is get one of my MINI MOGUL MANUALS at http://www.MoviePubs.net and learn how to produce/direct features and get going. YOU may make the next blockbuster.
Daily Bell: Hollywood seems weirdly diminished in 2011. Are we imagining things?
James Jaeger: Hollywood always maintained its grip over the universe through distribution and stars. As I discussed above, the Internet is now the new distribution vehicle and there are potential stars all over the "freaking planet." Thus Hollywood no longer has THE grip, only A grip over the universe . . . and you are NOT imagining this, although don't be surprised if Hollywood figures out a way to delude you in the future.
Daily Bell: We asked you this before, but update us. Where does the industry go from here? Are the independents going to get bigger and bigger?
James Jaeger: An "independent" is a production company that's NOT a studio and doesn't have an "output deal" WITH a studio. There are currently about six studios; everyone else is thus an independent, but ironically, the major studios started out as independents at a time when Thomas Edison's production company was the only major studio. Thus I suppose what will happen is the industry will continue to merge, consolidate, partner, divest and go bankrupt. Small companies will merge and gain market share, then be purchased or chewed up by the studios and incorporated into their systems or spit out. If you want to get an excellent flavor for how Hollywood machinates and survives, read a book called THE MEN WHO WOULD BE KING – the unauthorized biography of Spielberg, Katzenberg and Geffin and how they built DREAMWORKS SKG.
This book, and books like FATAL SUBTRACTION and POWER TO BURN, will paint the picture. But ultimately, no one can answer the question as to where will the industry go from here. The closest one can come to an answer of this question is by carefully studying the technology, especially computer and motion picture-related technologies. Movies after all are a function of technology as much as they are a function of artistic expression.
Daily Bell: Is the oligopoly you spoke to us about last time losing its grip on Hollywood? Is traditional management dying?
James Jaeger: I really can't say, as I have not been that active in the Film Industry Reform Movement. Ted Baehr, who I interviewed for several of the documentaries, seems to feel that so-called traditional management is losing its grip. (see his publication, MOVIEGUIDE, at http://www.MovieGuide.org). John Cones, who has done a lot of research on this subject, may be able to answer this question quite fully and I would be happy to arrange an interview with him and/or Ted Baehr anytime the Daily Bell would like. It is true Matrixx has a documentary in development called CONTROL GROUP – What Makes Sammy Run? – but this is far from complete. In this documentary we will fully explore Hollywood and the demographic that controls it. Unlike most of my documentaries where I come to the table with a specific point of view, agenda or bias, I will not approach this documentary from that position. The reason: I REALLY DON'T KNOW WHO NOW CONTROLLS HOLLYWOOD AND I WOULD TRULY LIKE TO FIND OUT, IF POSSIBLE. Also, maybe it's now irrelevant, given the Internet and the technology now available to so many.
Daily Bell: It doesn't seem to us that the "Club" is very healthy. Disagree?
James Jaeger: I really don't know as the "Club" kicked me out. Paul Haggis, John Travolta, Philip Steuer and Night Shyamalan won't return my phone calls these days but Courtnaey Valenti, Dean Zanuck, Bob Yari and Mickey Rooney do, so who knows how healthy any of them are.
Daily Bell: Is the collectivist approach embodied in modern films beginning to fail as an archetype?
James Jaeger: A movie production is basically a dictatorship of the director. That's one of the reasons I like movie production, I get to be a mini, popcorn dictator. There are few experiences more exciting than having a crew and cast of 99 people standing at attention waiting for your next decision. It's also freaking exhausting because they fire questions at you at the rate of about 2 or 3 per minute, thus after a 10-hour day (the standard workday in the movie industry), you are really fried. Then you don't get to bed until 11:30 and have to be on the set the next morning by 7AM to face the same music. This is why we are given trailers and motor homes … to get away.
So a movie director is a creative dictator. You are responsible for making sure the actors translate the written word to the cinematic expression such that a compelling story is told and there is an audience that wants to experience it. That said, that every movie is a dictatorship, I would say the movie industry, as a whole, is a collective. Most of the people in Hollywood are collectivists who want big government. Ironically, even though Hollywood is a big union town, I do not believe the unions really work for the workers. I believe they work for the studios. They serve the studios as screening agencies. You can't get on a studio picture unless you are in the IA union and you can't get in IA unless you have worked on a studio picture. When I was in Hollywood they shut me out of the IA, the DGA and the Editors Guild. When I was working for Lee Garmes, Lee said he could get me into the cameraman's local, but I didn't want to be a cameraman. He did get one of his other protégées, Mike Little, into the cameraman's local and even paid his $5,000 entrance fee. This was in 1979 when $5,000 meant something.
Daily Bell: The elites are having trouble with their wars and with influencing society generally in our view these days, thanks to the Internet. Do you see this erosion of credibility affecting Hollywood?
James Jaeger: Due to the truth-telling of the Internet, the elites must be having a much more difficult time keeping us all on the farms, as Stefan Molyneux might say. I think everyone must make sure they don't try to abridge the Internet in any way and this is where I would draw the line in the sand. Absolutely NO government regulation of the 'Net. They won't allow freedom or anarchy in the real world, so let us have it on the Internet. Many social scientists and mathematicians now believe that chaos can result in spontaneous order, so maybe the Internet is actually more organized than the real world. Read a book by mathematician, Albert-László Barabási, entitled LINKED – How Everything is Connected to Everything Else. For the first time in human history, the electronic Internet has made it possible to study human networks in high detail. From this research it is possible that entirely new governmental systems may someday emerge.
Daily Bell: Is your blackballing lifting? Do you see yourself becoming more welcome in Hollywood once again?
James Jaeger: I don't know. We have been calling many agents and studio executives for the TESLA project and most of them seem to take my calls or return them. In all seriousness, I doubt if I have really been blackballed by Hollywood because you really have to be an anti-Semite to have that happen. I like to joke about it because I really don't care any more, but I am no Mel Gibson or Marlon Brando either. If, however, I ever DO get the TESLA movie made – someone got ALLAS SHRUGGED made – and say DREAMWORKS funded the budget at $75 million and Ridley Scott directed, and they paid me $3 million for the screenplay, you can bet my attitude about Hollywood would drastically change. I would then give a damn about a lot more. So, I am potentially no better than any of the other Hollywood apologists or people that kiss Hollywood's butt. The difference between me and most filmmakers is, I would opt to be like Steven Spielberg, a man I greatly respect and someone who has always made quality movies and never stooped to exploitation.
Daily Bell: How is the Film Industry Reform Movement doing? Are you having more of an impact?
James Jaeger: I have become so fascinated with making these political documentaries, I have not really paid much attention to it for the past 5 years. FIRM is really John Cone's baby and again, if you wish to interview him, I could arrange that.
Daily Bell: You keep forging ahead. Any times you have doubted or regretted your path?
James Jaeger: Not really. My LA cameraman told me the other day that I was about twenty years ahead of most people's thinking and that's why I am frustrated so much of the time. I would say I might be five years ahead at the most, but you have to take a look at geniuses like Edwin Vieira, G. Edward Griffin and James Cameron before you can toss around numbers like twenty.
Daily Bell: Still believe the future belongs to animation?
James Jaeger: More so than the last time I discussed this with the DB. With the advent of AVATAR and other CG pictures, one can easily see that photo-realistic cinematography is now routine. The RED camera, and full-chip sensors can now capture images that vastly exceed the resolving power of the human eye (10 lines per mm). It's only a matter of time before I will be able to tell Hollywood to take a hike on the TESLA project and my ECOSPHERES project and simply animate them at home. Then, if the story is good and my "actors" are compelling, why can't I release the movie over the Internet and get 5 million people to buy tickets?
I have already released a political film – FIAT EMPIRE – that over 5 million people watched, and that was about banking. Who cares about BANKING when they can watch a story about TESLA or taking over the Earth with a special gemstone found only on Titan, the 6th moon of Saturn. And, as I mentioned, I think it's only a matter of time before some rogue filmmaker, not me, will digitize a bunch of celebrities and start releasing movies with such celebrities "starring."
Daily Bell: We asked you this before. Where is the freedom movement headed in America? Have you seen it evolve in the past year?
James Jaeger: As far as I'm concerned the Freedom Movement was started by Ron Paul. In other words, the RON PAUL REVOLUTION is the Freedom Movement NOT the so-called Tea Party Movement. Some say the Tea Party Movement may be a bunch of idiots and morons that have no idea what they are doing. Others say it may even be a power elite-agent provocateur-movement to no where. As Nelson and I predicted, the Tea Party has entered the House and they are thrashing around trying to change things. They will change nada. This is the tail wagging the bull. It's all bull.
The only people out there talking any realism are Rand and Ron Paul. Cut 30 to 60 billion off the budget; please this is an insult to the intelligence of anyone that can add 2 + 2. The only way to deal with the deficit and the debt is as Nelson Hultberg delineates in SPOILER. I might add we must also enact term limits. Any congress that will not enact term limits is the WRONG congress, ipso facto. Corollary: any congress that DOES enact term limits, is the right congress. Only this congress would do other correct things like stabilize the inflation rate of currency; phase out the progressive income tax; close and control the U.S. borders; and reduce foreign military adventurism. As far as budget reduction, after listening to pundits and politicians bat figures around for several years, I have come to the conclusion that the U.S. Budget has grown organically and every single line item in there is someone's baby.
To cut someone's baby is thus to be insensitive, yet no one IS sensitive to anyone's baby but their own. Thus the only solution is to be pan-determined about this: reduce the budget across the board. In other words cut everyone's baby by exactly the same percentage. In the world of electronic movie budgeting it's called "applying a global" and it's as easy as pie to do it. The U.S. budget is an electronic budget so it would be just as easy. I wrote a book on the art of budgeting called THE BOOK OF BUDGETS. It's at http://www.moviepubs.net/books/bk0001.htm for those who may be interested in the two philosophical methods one uses to write budgets. One of those methods is perfect for the U.S. Budget.
Daily Bell: Ron Paul seems more popular than ever. Nelson Hultberg has started a new party. The Tea Party just swept the House. Doesn't all this make you hopeful?
James Jaeger: Yes, however as I said earlier, only Nelson's new party is realistic. The Tea Party will go no where unless it adopts Nelson's principles. I guarantee this. Ron Paul will go no where unless he adopts Nelson's principles. Donald Trump will go no where unless he adopts Nelson's principles and the Libertarian Party will go no where unless it adopts Nelson's principles. Period. I am so positive about this … I made a FILM about it. Why would I put myself thorough the HELL of making an entire feature film unless I was POSITIVE about this?! I wouldn't.
Daily Bell: As a political follow-up … Is the Republican Party dying? Is the Open Conspiracy as you put it having less success these days? It seems a bit battered to us.
James Jaeger: The Democratic and Republican Parties are like Janus, the Roman God, as Edwin Vieira likes to analogize. They're two faces on the same head. Two wings on the same ugly bird as Pat Buchanan says. And BTW Pat is in SPOiLER and he kicks ass. He says the Democrat and Republican Parties are "a CONSPIRACY to keep all others out of the game."
There you go, all you "accidental theorists of history" – conspiracies really DO exist – at least according to one of the most studied political scholars in academia. And wait till you hear what John McManus, head of the John Birch Society, says about them AND the folks that control the world. He's in SPOiLER too all you closet conspiracy freaks. So, if the Republican Party isn't already dying, it will be quite sick after the information in SPOiLER is broadly assimilated by the voting public. But more realistically what will happen is the Democrats and Republicans will eventually drop the pretense that they are anything else than the same, whore-party for BIG GOV and BIG CORP and they will merge into the DemoPublican Party and then compete with the American Conservative Party, Nelson' new party, or some revised Libertarian or Constitution Party. So we will probably always have a two-party system.
Daily Bell: What's the state of liberty generally in the US? Is the Constitution still salvageable?
James Jaeger: The general state of liberty in a nation can be estimated by the number of stop-signs, red-lights, strobe-lights on cop cars, warning-signs, road-curves signs, slow-down signs, speed-limit signs, one-way signs and no-right-turn signs a civilization has spewed all over the once-green landscape. Given this, we have to believe that the Constitution is still salvageable. But even if the U.S. collapsed into dust, so what! All we would have to do is bulldoze the buildings in Washington DC, dust off a copy of the U.S. Constitution and schedule another Continental Congress.
At such Continental Congress, however NO ONE who participated in the former U.S. Government should be invited (and we would have to position several of those mean robots, like in ROBOCOP, at the door to make sure they stayed out, except for Ron and Rand Paul, of course). We would then simply re-instate version 2.0 of the Republic and consider the last attempt a beta test for the first self-government. At the Continental Congress we would ascertain what caused the demise of the former government and amend the Constitution accordingly. But all amendments would have to be written down long-hand; no word processors. The word processor, in the hands of a lawyer, has to be Mankind's worst enemy. How do you think these Bills, like the Patriot Act, get to be thousands of pages long. Lawyers + Word Processors = Tyrannical Obfuscation.
Daily Bell: Who will win the next US Presidential election? Will Obama recover some of his popularity?
James Jaeger: I am no so-called Birther, but Donald Trump is starting to convince me that Obama isn't a U.S. citizen. If this is so, Obama is toast next election. This leaves Establishment people like Romney, Huckabee and Gingrich as the mainstream contenders. Maybe we'll see Ron Paul, and even Donald Trump, added to the mix, but it's impossible that either will be nominated by the GOP because the CFR would never allow that. So their final play will be for them to run as Independents.
Since the Tea Party will continue to stuff the House and Senate with angry, pissed-off Americans, there will inevitably develop a massive gridlock in Congress. Thus, it really makes NO difference who's Prez. Ergo, there can be no SPOiLER. A SPOiLER is only spoiling something when that which s/he spoiled would have been able to have been effective. So Grid-lock = No Possible Spoilers. Americans thus might as well vote their conscience this time. And this opens the door to a Ron Paul and his running mate, a mate who will be the future president like an Abraham Lincoln, but with a Jeffersonian twist, thus making Ron Paul the John C. Fremont of our time. This is where it is, or could be, going. But if Americans are stupid, as Bill Maher says they are, they will continue to flip-flop back and forth for the God of Janus.
Daily Bell: So Ron Paul will never be the Republican candidate for president?
James Jaeger: Never. The CFR would never in a million years allow it. Even AIPAC would never allow it because one of their highest priorities is to maintain a US military presence near the Israel, whereas Dr. Paul wants to rein in our military adventures. I however predict that Dr. Paul WILL run on the GOP ticket to do as much "damage" as he can. Then, after the GOP rejects him as their nominee, I hope, this time, he will jump over to an Independent run with Nelson's new party or the Libertarian Party.
I don't mean to sound arrogant, but if he doesn't do the jump, that will be the end of his political career. He's not a young man. He's never going to have the health to run again and if he doesn't launch the next Abraham Lincoln, he's going to slowly fade out over the next decade as a "mere" Texas congressman . . . and we're all screwed. As you will see in SPOiLER, it is IMPOSSIBLE for the DemoPublicans and/or the Tea Party to bring the government back to its limited government, free-enterprise state of existence. Impossible, given the calculus of the system. Only the correct vision from a third party candidate, unencumbered by the special interests and fears of the DemoPublicans, can carefully move the nation away from the debt-based, monetary system and the runaway freight train of government growth, to borrow one of Nelson's metaphors.
Daily Bell: Will Nelson Hultberg make a big difference with his third party?
James Jaeger: No one wants to have to start a POLITICAL party. That's about as much fun as playing golf in the rain. And no political party has to be started in order for an Independent candidate to actually run, or get up on the debate stage. A political party is thus no excuse for whether an Independent candidate runs or not. If you read Nelson's book, THE CONSERVATIVE REVOLUTION, you will see that the first major target is NOT to start a political party, but to get a Freedom Movement-candidate up on the presidential debate stage. Many don't realize that there is a big difference between the PRIMARY debates and the PRESIDENTIAL debates. In the PRIMARY debates, such as the ones Ron Paul was in last election, one only reaches about 10 million people. But in the PRESIDENTIAL debates one reaches 70 million people directly, and an estimated additional 30 million people over the next days at the office water cooler. Given that Nelson Hultberg has isolated the two reasons third political parties have failed and the 4 pillars upon which an Independent candidate can build a successful platform and garner at least 38% of the vote, I would say that Nelson Hultberg's third party will make a BIG difference.
Daily Bell: Give us an update on your plans and recent events outside of the new movie.
James Jaeger: I will continue to work with the Tesla Science Foundation to get TESLA – The Poet of Electricity packaged and financed. After SPOiLER is released, I hope to find a new subject that captures my interest. I have been thinking about producing and directing a low budget feature, but I don't really have a screenplay that I think will fly with investors around the Philadelphia area. If one drops by Matrixx production's website at http://www.MatrixxProductions.net they can see the various films in development, packaging, production, post production and release at the company. Updates on my plans and Matrixx Entertainment's activities are always at http://www.mecfilms.com/update.htm.
Daily Bell: Update our viewers on where they can find your movies and how they can access them.
James Jaeger: All of our documentaries – FIAT EMPIRE, ORIGINAL INTENT, CULTURAL MARXISM and CORPORATE FASCISM – can be accessed at MOVIE PUBS at http://www.MoviePubs.net.
ORIGINAL INTENT told you why the Democrats and Republicans are destroying this nation and SPOiLER will give you the solution for bringing the country back to Constitutional standards.
To date a 125 minute rough-cut of SPOiLER is done and we now have the following experts in the picture: Chuck Baldwin, Pat Buchanan, G. Edward Griffin, Nelson Hultberg, Peter Lillback, John McManus, Edwin Vieira and John Williams. With these experts – and a script inspired by the brilliant political strategy laid out by Nelson Hultberg in his revolutionary book THE CONSERVATIVE REVOLUTION was narrated by the well-known commentator, Sam Chew (WB, NBC Discovery) – we now have ALL of the pieces of an incredible film "in the can."
We are trying to get SPOiLER done in the next month. So far we have had generous donations – including The Foundation for the Advancement of Free-Market Thinking (FAFMT) – that have seen us through development and principle photography but we still need a small sum to finish post production. So if any of your readers can help out we are still granting "Producer," "Executive Producer," "Associate Producer" and "Production Associate" screencredits on the completed film commensurate with, and in recognition of, donations. Please go to http://www.SpoilerUSA.org/donate.htm. We will also send donors a free copy of the movie when it is released.
Daily Bell: Before we forget, update us further on Tesla's business logistics. Is it closer to getting off the ground?
James Jaeger: Ridley Scott's people at Scottfree have reviewed our TESLA screenplay and they all like it and said that "Rid" would be interested in directing it if we can get it "set up" at a studio. We are now working on that and you can follow some of the progress at the TESLA site at http://www.PoetOfElectricity.com.
Daily Bell: Thanks for making your documentaries on liberty and giving Mr. Hultberg more exposure. Any last points you want to make?
James Jaeger: You are welcome. I just hope these documentaries are sleepers and the American public soon awakens. Nelson is doing his part and has it right. It is a pleasure working with him and we have become very close over the past year. Much thanks and credit is due the Daily Bell and to the new Free-Market Foundation – FAFMT – for were it not for you bringing everyone together, as we read and analyze the news each day, the Freedom Movement would never be as far along. Pat Buchanan even feels the "moment of Globalism may have passed" and will discuss this in his new book, not yet out. If that moment HAS passed, it's due to all our efforts.
Daily Bell: Thanks for sitting down with us. It was an honor to speak with you.
James Jaeger: Thank you for having me. It was a pleasure.
The documentary arrives at a critical time as well because the American electorate is increasingly bipolar. It is on the one hand hopeful about influencing the process and on the other inevitably disappointed and increasingly despairful.
Bill Clinton was seen by many as a devious globalist who did whatever he could to increase the power of the executive branch and the federal government in general. George Bush, by the end of his term was seen by many as even worse, a conniving warmonger who had further undermined whatever was left of the balance of power within the US fedgov and turned America into militaristic empire abroad and an authoritarian society at home.
Barack Obama was supposed to bring American back to her roots as fairer and more decent republic, but he has proven to be merely another corporate technocrat who has taken the US further down the road of socialism, fascism and general authoritarianism.
Through all these changes, the US electorate has "kept the faith," believing that "next time" the national domestic nightmare would end. The elected men and women would re-establish a free society, the wars would end, the oppression at home would diminish and the spending would cease.
But now the two-party system is running out of chances. Obama has proven a great disappointment and as a result mid-term elections cleaned out the House. John Boehner came in pledging a sincere return to values of thrift and freedom that made America great. But then he negotiated a deal that supposedly pared the federal budget by US$40 billion or so but that actually cut spending by US$300 million. This is probably the end of Boehner.
The US electorate is increasingly disabused and disgusted. Nothing works. Leviathan expands voraciously. We began our little narrative with Clinton because he was the first president to experience the full brunt of the Internet. At the time we predicted it would take several full electoral cycles to entirely expose the modern political system, and we believe we have been correct in this matter. The Internet has effectively blown up both parties and revealed the system for the farce that it is.
The Anglo-American elites that are behind the decline and fall of the US republic are most aware of what must come next. But having done the damage deliberately to create the conditions for one-world government, they must now deliver on it, and the Internet and the increasingly aroused Western masses that were to provide the foundation for such an evolution are not cooperating. It is a conundrum.
Enlightenment has spread through the masses, but not because the elites planned it that way. The Internet-Thought-Revolution was unexpected and they have yet to deal definitively with its fallout. There are increasing questions as to whether they can.
Additionally, the US electorate, having experienced fully the utter deviousness and destructiveness of both political parties has begun to look for answers beyond them. We are certainly glad Nelson Hultberg is there to provide them. We caution only that the anger has begun to build and it probably will blaze out of control over time and consume what the corrupt system has become.
We are not sure therefore that Nelson Hultberg shall get a chance to fully realize the promise of his new party within the ambit of political realities. We are sure however the advice and insights he offers could not be more timely and will help provide a blueprint for whatever arises out of the rubble of the current state of affairs.
It is concerned thinkers and activists like Hultberg and Jaeger that have always renewed American exceptionalism. We are grateful for their presence and in the case of both the film and the new party, we hope they receive the support of freedom-loving and concerned citizens everywhere. The US and the West generally needs all the wisdom it can muster in these perilous times. Thanks to Jaeger and Hultberg for providing a much needed dose of it. The healing and the antidotes must arise from within.