New Republican candidate in Tennessee's 4th Congressional District

Tuesday, October 8, 2013

Arkansas-Tennessee Live Blog
photo John Anderson

There's a new Republican candidate running in Tennessee's 4th Congressional District primary next year.

Meet teacher, political activist and volunteer firefighter John Anderson of Bell Buckle, Tenn. He's talking about revolution.

"I am not looking for a career in Congress," Anderson said, according to his news release, published in the Shelbyville Times-Gazette. "I'm not a politician, and I don't like cities. I want two years to go to Washington and start this revolution."

Anderson, who teaches math, said "we are going to get the federal government out of our telephones, out of our bedrooms, out of our schools and churches and doctors' offices, out of our gun cabinets, and out of our lives. We Americans are taking charge."

The candidate said that if elected he will push legislation that would "force" members of Congress, "under penalty of perjury," to attest they have personally read any bill before voting on it.

"That would reduce the length of bills," he explained. "It would make the language understandable."

Anderson joins U.S. Rep. Scott DesJarlais, a South Pittsburg physician, and state Sen. Jim Tracy, R-Shelbyville, in the sprawling district's GOP primary. The district stretches from Cleveland to Murfreesboro.