How To Get Candidates To Sign The FAIRtax Pledge – Introduction
[Editor’s note: This is the first in a five-part series by Author and FAIRtax volunteer John Gaver, who by far has brought in more candidates to sign the FAIRtax Pledge than anyone else. Read this series to learn John’s secrets. Here we give you John’s introduction. In the next four weeks we will share John’s techniques. Primary Day is coming soon in your state, so please read these articles.]
Hello, I’m John Gaver, author of “the Rich don’t Pay Tax!...Or Do they?” and a long-time advocate for the FAIRtax.
Also, it turns out that I’m apparently really good at getting candidates for Congress to sign the FAIRtax Candidate Pledge – “apparently.” Actually, it’s not me. But I’ll get to that.
Over a third of the 14 candidates (43%) who have signed the pledge, at this point in the 2022 election cycle, are candidates who I personally brought on-board.
But my purpose is not to brag. It’s more to say, “If I can do it, you can do it too.” In fact, that’s why I emphasized the word, “apparently,” above. My point is to emphasize that anyone can do it.
There are 435 congressional seats and 34 senatorial seats up for grabs this election cycle. There are 1,432 confirmed candidates at last tally.
Now if would be nice to be able to get all 1,452 confirmed candidates for those seats to sign the Pledge. But let’s face it, more than a few of them are incumbents who are confirmed tax and spenders. They view the income tax code as their campaign piggy bank. A few more just follow the orders of the Party Establishment (both parties) over the wishes of their constituents.
But that said, we should easily be able to get half of them to sign. After all, the FAIRtax truly is bi-partisan, and it would give challengers a way to stand apart from incumbents who may not have co-sponsored the FAIRtax. Also, if the incumbent has co-sponsored the FAIRtax, then his challengers absolutely do need to sign the Pledge so as not to be left behind.
So, the question is, “Why do we only have fourteen signers?”
Of the 14 candidates across the country who have signed the Pledge at this point in time, 43% of them, Dan McKaughan, Jonahtan Mitchell, and Jonathan Hullihan from TX-8, and Martin Etwop, Jameson Ellis, and Milam Langella from TX-2, are candidates who I introduced to the FAIRtax Pledge. But I’m not doing anything special. It’s just that I’m actually doing it. That’s all. It’s not rocket science.
So, think about the fact that I’m only one person working in just two congressional districts, and no Senate seats up for election. If just 10% of FAIRtax Advocates were to start trying to get candidates to sign the FAIRtax Candidate Pledge, we would probably have over a thousand signers by primary day.
The reason for this article is to show more FAIRtax advocates how really easy it is to get candidates to sign the Pledge. After all, it’s like they keep pointing out on FAIRtax Power Radio, “Once you understand it, you’ll demand it,” and so will your congressional candidates. But that means those candidates have to actually “understand” it and many have only heard the name, while some others have not even heard that much.
So, that makes your job as a FAIRtax advocate easy. You just have to get them started to thinking about it. To do that, you have to ask questions. I’ll get to what questions to ask in these articles.
I’m going to break this into four pieces. Each article will cover one part of this very easy process. I split it into pieces because some people may already be comfortable with parts of this process. So, you only need to read the articles related to areas where you have a question...
The articles are:
Keep in mind that these articles are just guidelines. If you have to deviate, it’s OK. In fact, although this is what I typically aim for, I seldom manage to follow more than about 80% of the guidelines listed here myself. No two candidate interviews will be the same.
But if you start with these guidelines and deviate where necessary, you should end up with a more than acceptable video and another Pledge signer.
. . .
Just remember, getting candidates for Congress to sign the FAIRtax Candidate Pledge is really easy. Most will probably ask a few questions. But the candidate is just trying to get his or her head around the concept. They aren’t challenging you. If you don’t know an answer, say so and then direct them to FAIRtax.org or call someone who will know the answer.
The whole point is that candidates aren’t going around looking for pledges to sign. Someone has to ask them. That’s what we have to do. Talk to your candidates and ask them to sign the FAIRtax Candidate Pledge. You will probably be surprised at how easy it is. If you have any questions about any part of the process, read the related article.
Take Back Control!
John Gaver
Hello, I’m John Gaver, author of “the Rich don’t Pay Tax!...Or Do they?” and a long-time advocate for the FAIRtax.
Also, it turns out that I’m apparently really good at getting candidates for Congress to sign the FAIRtax Candidate Pledge – “apparently.” Actually, it’s not me. But I’ll get to that.
Over a third of the 14 candidates (43%) who have signed the pledge, at this point in the 2022 election cycle, are candidates who I personally brought on-board.
But my purpose is not to brag. It’s more to say, “If I can do it, you can do it too.” In fact, that’s why I emphasized the word, “apparently,” above. My point is to emphasize that anyone can do it.
There are 435 congressional seats and 34 senatorial seats up for grabs this election cycle. There are 1,432 confirmed candidates at last tally.
Now if would be nice to be able to get all 1,452 confirmed candidates for those seats to sign the Pledge. But let’s face it, more than a few of them are incumbents who are confirmed tax and spenders. They view the income tax code as their campaign piggy bank. A few more just follow the orders of the Party Establishment (both parties) over the wishes of their constituents.
But that said, we should easily be able to get half of them to sign. After all, the FAIRtax truly is bi-partisan, and it would give challengers a way to stand apart from incumbents who may not have co-sponsored the FAIRtax. Also, if the incumbent has co-sponsored the FAIRtax, then his challengers absolutely do need to sign the Pledge so as not to be left behind.
So, the question is, “Why do we only have fourteen signers?”
Of the 14 candidates across the country who have signed the Pledge at this point in time, 43% of them, Dan McKaughan, Jonahtan Mitchell, and Jonathan Hullihan from TX-8, and Martin Etwop, Jameson Ellis, and Milam Langella from TX-2, are candidates who I introduced to the FAIRtax Pledge. But I’m not doing anything special. It’s just that I’m actually doing it. That’s all. It’s not rocket science.
So, think about the fact that I’m only one person working in just two congressional districts, and no Senate seats up for election. If just 10% of FAIRtax Advocates were to start trying to get candidates to sign the FAIRtax Candidate Pledge, we would probably have over a thousand signers by primary day.
The reason for this article is to show more FAIRtax advocates how really easy it is to get candidates to sign the Pledge. After all, it’s like they keep pointing out on FAIRtax Power Radio, “Once you understand it, you’ll demand it,” and so will your congressional candidates. But that means those candidates have to actually “understand” it and many have only heard the name, while some others have not even heard that much.
So, that makes your job as a FAIRtax advocate easy. You just have to get them started to thinking about it. To do that, you have to ask questions. I’ll get to what questions to ask in these articles.
I’m going to break this into four pieces. Each article will cover one part of this very easy process. I split it into pieces because some people may already be comfortable with parts of this process. So, you only need to read the articles related to areas where you have a question...
The articles are:
- How to find and approach candidates.
- How to prepare for the interview.
- How to conduct the interview.
- Technical information on recording and editing audio and video.
Keep in mind that these articles are just guidelines. If you have to deviate, it’s OK. In fact, although this is what I typically aim for, I seldom manage to follow more than about 80% of the guidelines listed here myself. No two candidate interviews will be the same.
But if you start with these guidelines and deviate where necessary, you should end up with a more than acceptable video and another Pledge signer.
. . .
The whole point is that candidates aren’t going around looking for pledges to sign. Someone has to ask them. That’s what we have to do. Talk to your candidates and ask them to sign the FAIRtax Candidate Pledge. You will probably be surprised at how easy it is. If you have any questions about any part of the process, read the related article.
Take Back Control!
John Gaver
🇺🇸 Call For Pictures & WriteUps - When others see your activity, they are inspired, the process snowballs and Representatives, Senators and, yes, even the President start to listen to you and me. Please send your material to me at Jim.Bennett@FAIRtax.org.
🇺🇸 The Official FAIRtax Store - Don’t forget to order your FAIRtax gear from the FAIRtax Store.🇺🇸 We've Got You Covered, If You Let Us Know - If you are planning an event, we have event insurance coverage available for you. Email me the "who-what-where-when" and I will obtain for you a COI. Once the event is underway, it's too late.
🇺🇸 CPAC Finally, save the dates: February 24-27, 2022. Plan to be at the CPAC (“Conservative Political Action Conference) annual convention. We need to turn out in numbers. You don’t need to be a conservative to attend and help the FAIRtax. 1) Go to https://cpac.conservative.org and sign up; and 2) once you do, let Bob Paxton know you did. Contact Bob at (352) 687-3428 or thefairtaxguys@gmail.com.