User:Jandersoninbb

John Anderson(politician)

John was born in Thomasville, Georgia on July 20, 1949. He attended Mira Costa High School in Manhattan Beach, California and graduated in Spring 1966.

After high school, John attended the University of California at Santa Barbara and graduated with a B.A. in anthropology and minor in mathematics in 1970. He took his first teaching job in 1972, and continued being an educator until retiring in 2013.

John's status as a political activist began with his efforts to stop annexation of his current hometown in Bell Buckle, Tennessee. John personally wrote and illustrated a cartoon series called The Village Witch depicting the then Bell Buckle mayor in an unsavory light. John was an active member of meetings held in Bell Buckle held pertaining to the annexation issue. John and other citizens' efforts were eventually met with success, as the town did not become impacted by annexation efforts.

In addition to being an educator and volunteer firefighter, much of John's time in Bedford County, Tennessee was spent resisting and publicly denouncing federal education reform, including Race to the Top and Common Core. He personally conducted research on Race to the Top and was formally acknowledged for his work by the Director Emeritus of the Institute for Evaluation and Assessment at the University of Tennessee at Knoxville. John did significant research on standardized testing as well and had his work reviewed and cited by the National Board of Educational Testing and Public Policy in 2003.

In July 2010, John rode his bicycle from his current home in Bell Buckle, Tennessee to Sioux City, Iowa, the launch city for the 37th annual RAGBRAI bicycle race. The trip to the race was a total distance of 1,031 miles, and he was the first arrive. John also traveled over 1,100 miles by bicycle to Kennebunkport, Maine to attempt to share his political opinions with George W. Bush.

John ran in the 2014 election for the U.S. House, representing Tennessee's 4th District. Although he lost in the Republican primary, John successfully won 5.9% of the vote to allow incumbent Scott Desjarlais to win the 4th district with 44.9% of the vote, barely beating opponent Jim Tracy with 44.8% of the vote.

John's conservative political platform focused mainly on shortening term limits and transparency of political activity. In addition, John sought political reform that would force congressmen to officially attest that they have read any legislation in full before voting for or against its passing, which would ultimately lead to shorter and overall simpler legislation. John's primary message is that he wants to reduce the federal government's power and restore that power to the American people.