Concerned about the future of the U.S., Knapp heads to Washington D.C. to address his problems. When he had difficulties accomplishing his goals, he decided to alter his strategy and to pursue his own earmark. Knapp hired a lobbyist and set out to obtain government funding for his project, which was to construct a museum of government waste. The idea for the project came from filmmakers Ellen and Jim Hubbard asking themselves "why can't Congress get a handle on wasteful spending?," "how could we become a part of the process to see how and why Congress makes spending decisions?," and “what’s the ultimate ridiculous earmark that we can come up with?’”
In the 1950s South Africans realized that their freedom struggle had to be built in four arenas of action: mass action, underground organization, armed struggle, and international mobilization. Have You Heard From Johannesburg takes viewers inside that last arena, the movement to mobilize worldwide citizen action to isolate the apartheid regime. Inspired by the courage and suffering of South Africa’s people as they fought back against the violence and oppression of racism, foreign solidarity groups, in cooperation with exiled South Africans, took up the anti-apartheid cause. Working against heavy odds, in a climate of apathy or even support for the governments of Hendrik Verwoerd, John Vorster and P.W. Botha, campaigners challenged their governments and powerful corporations in the West to face up to the immorality of their collaboration with apartheid.