In 2012, I was studying Economics at the University of North Texas, Denton, Texas. I got a speaking gig for a Gandhian intellectual from India that coming summer, and it all worked out pretty well. So, the door was open for me to pitch another idea.
I approached Charlie Rose about doing a PBS Special for national broadcast in a round table with Warren Buffett, Dr. Ron Paul, Dr. Noam Chomsky, Willie Nelson, etc. The title was to be, "Is the Personal Income Tax Slavery?"
Well, Warren Buffett told me in an email that he doesn't do round tables, so he was out.
A law professor form George Washington University was happy to come.
I'd also been in contact with Dr. Chomsky, who told me he was in.
Well, as time went on, no one else responded, as is the case with most projects in life. (Once in a while, the planets align, and you knock one out of the park -- you know how it is.)
Anyway, Dr. Chomsky and I kept on talking in emails.
One day, I finally picked up a copy of "The Kingdom Of God Is Within You," by Leo Tolstoy, that had been on my coffee table about a year, I guess, and I read it.
I emailed Dr. Chomsky about how he should run for President of the United States and I'd run for Texas Governor on the proposition from Tolstoy's book that we would then not take the oath when elected. He turned down the idea for himself, as you can read in his email below, but he was happy to endorse me for my end of the proposal.
And that's how it happened. We have traded many emails since on a rang of topics, and he has never once flinched at my thanks to him for how his endorsement for my run for Texas Governor has opened doors for me.
Gene Chapman
ChapmanForTexasGovernor2014.com
