On Friday, Glenn excitedly emailed the editors of TheBlaze.com and GlennBeck.com asking them to post a hilarious video he discovered that exposes the ties between bloated, big government and corrupt big business. Titled “The Kronies,” the video is an awesome anti-corporatism campaign designed to look like a classic 1980s cartoon.
If you haven’t already, watch the video below:
On radio this morning, Glenn spoke to one of the brains behind the video, John Papola of Emergent Order, about how the liberty and freedom-themed campaign came about.
“John got together with a guy named Max Borders and they have put together a company here in Texas to try to teach principles that we all used to find self-evident that I don't think we find self-evident anymore. Trying to teach a society that really is not really that interested in learning anything is difficult, but they have found a way to do it,” Glenn said. “Now, somebody sent this to me from my art department on Friday and said, ‘This is brilliant.’ And that's the only word I can use to describe it. It is absolutely brilliant the way they have done it.”
John explained that his background is in marketing and entertainment, and his time at Nickelodeon really prepared him for the creation of The Kronies. His quest to educate people about complex issues in simple and straightforward ways began a few years ago with a video about macroeconomics.
“Well, you might remember we created a video called ‘Keynes vs. Hayek, Fear the Boom and Bust’. It was a rap video about macroeconomics back in 2010. And at that time it was really just a passion project because I really believe in free markets and everybody being treated equally under the law. I think that's an important concept that gets lost in today's sort of politics. And when those things sort of took off, my eyes were open to this whole world of organizations that are desperate for help to get these ideas out there.”
The driving force behind “The Kronies” is to make people aware of the power of big government and corporate cronyism. John explained younger Americans are already coming to understand the idea of monopolies and cartels because successful private businesses like Uber and Airbnb are looking to turn that antiquated business model on its heads.
“I think it's causing a lot of cognitive dissonance among people who I think maybe were inclined to think that, ‘Oh, we need government to be a buttress against the corporate power,’” John explained. “And I just invite people who are honestly interested in trying to make the world a better place and are inclined to think the government can be that tool for that to take a closer look at what government actually does. Not what's on the blackboard in our economics classroom but what government actually does when empowered to pick winners and losers because, man, the historical record I think is pretty clear.”
The first “big regulatory act” was the creation of the Interstate Commerce Commission in 1887. While the government stepped in to try to limit cronyism, its intervention actually made matters worse.
“So one of the first big regulatory acts was in 1887. It was the Interstate Commerce Commission. So everyone hears about the great evil robber barons and how, you know, the Vanderbilts of the world were parasites sucking the people dry to collect all their money,” John said. “The government stepped in and the great Teddy Roosevelt and antitrust sort of saved the day in a wave of progressive revolution. Well, fact is the cronyism started right there. Who ended up sitting on the commission? Well, cronies for the big railroads. And what did they do? Well, they set standards that actually made it hard for the smaller railroads to compete.”
There is plenty more to come for Emergent Order and “The Kronies,” and John encouraged anyone interested in learning more about what he and his team is working on to visit TheKronies.com.
“Sign up for our email list because the more interest we get in making the toys [the more we can do],” John said. “We've talked about doing a Kickstarter [so] we can unleash the power of democracy.”
Check out the entire interview below, and don’t miss John and Max’s appearance on the Glenn Beck Program, Monday at 5pm ET only on TheBlaze: