We travel around the country partnering with independently owned by gas stati...
our resources to host an event for about an hour and a half. Sometimes two hours we reduce the
cost of gas from wherever it was currently to a predetermined number. It was a national average that I can't remember I believe is like 2020 is or 2022. The thing was when President Biden came into office. Yes. Thank you. That was the gas. Yes. When the President began to gas we came
“to office. Yes. I think in the widely enough I can't remember that but I can pretty sure”
was 239. It was when we took everything down to 239 and it was really awesome because people line up there would be lines of cars and that's where we came into play. The team that I was on, we provided consistent security and logistics and management. The different state teams would come in and they'd support us with volunteers, you know, flyers or just meeting and greeting with people. Americans are capable of achieving extraordinary things when they have the freedom
and opportunity to do so. This is American Potential. Welcome to the American Potential podcast. I'm your host, David from. So we've been talking about Americans of Prosperity is one small step campaign for a number of months now. Hopefully you've caught some of the episodes. But in its essence, it's about everyday people, everyday Americans taking a step to get involved to change
“their community, their state, their nation. And it's really the story of our founding and the history”
of America. Individuals taking that step to get involved and make a difference. So we have a great opportunity here. We're at American Prosperity's all staff meeting. We're our staff from around the country come together once a year to talk about our priorities, to get motivated, talk about our strategies, to make America better, to increase freedom and liberty for all Americans. And so I'm super excited because we have all these individuals here who have dedicated their lives
to advancing freedom and liberty. They've taken not only one small step to get involved, but additional steps to really make it their life's work. And some of them have just really wonderful stories and we've been happy to try to tell some of those stories. So I'm really excited for Greg Daldett, join us. He, a originate tendency works on our federal affairs team and has a story that starts out, you know, from a almost a traditional way, not unlike me, you'd go to
college and get involved. But all of us have that story is like how we actually kind of move into that larger way that we contribute to to make in a difference, hopefully in the nation. So Greg, thanks so much for joining us. I'm really interested in your story and glad that we can
be together. Absolutely. Thank you for having me. Yeah, it's always, it's always fun to be a part of
American potential podcast. Nice. Yeah. So as she said, a pretty standard traditional small town boy came from Carthage, Tennessee, my own dad are both educators now retired, but at the time we're educators. And so if you haven't grown up in a small town, it is an in microcosm of all the things of a
“big city and they definitely taught me a lot about the world and the people around me. How small was it?”
So Carthage, in the 2010 census and I should really get these numbers updated, but in 2010 it was 2500. The county is the whole was 20,000. Oh, wow. And I, I throw that number out a couple times working in Washington, D.C. And people will look at me and say you're joking, right? And I was like, no, no, I, there were two high schools and that graduated from the larger one and my class was 164 people. And they say we had 10 high schools and that was the smallest high school's graduating class.
I had one person be like, I had more people in my block than you did in your, your city. And I said, well, I mean, really throw you a curve ball technique that I grew up in an area called Tanglewood that was unincorporated. Carthage is just the closest town. And they're like, I don't understand what unincorporated is. That don't worry about it. We're getting too small for you. But no, it was a great place to grow up. The people were very kind. And I learned a lot about myself. I learned a lot
about the world. Like I said, there were mom and dad work teachers, very engaged in the community, both from work, from their volunteering, from church, just being pillars of the community. We were very well known, blessed to have that scrutiny. Maybe. I mean, it's a small town, everybody knows
everything about everything. But that was really where I, through watching my parents always put
others first and caring about others and working with people was kind of the beginning. And the inception of my drive for being a people person, learning about people's stories and what makes them tick and what motivates them because as a young age, I decided a life motto for me would be
That there is one unique thing that everyone can teach me.
the right questions to figure out what it is. And so I just got enamored with the idea of talking to
“people, working with people, volunteering with people, expanding my horizons. I did everything from”
band and football, French, interact for age. I did a jazz man. I did church choir. I was a camp counselor in Arkansas and you know, took that and had the opportunity to go to college and jumped on that. I ended up going to the University of Tennessee. Govall's. We are obviously the volunteer state. So again, the whole state is kind of bought into the idea of being there for people. And the university
is a whole. It is our mascot after all. But yeah, so got into Tennessee. Dove had first into my programs
was a part of student government. I actually was part of a select group within the student government that was the government affairs committee. And so it was our job to represent the university at the state legislature. So for four years, I would go and we called it lobbying, but really it
“was us telling our stories and telling the stories of our peers. Be it kids like me coming from a”
small town, be it kids that were coming from big cities like Brentwood or Franklin or Nashville, Memphis, or is the kids that were coming in on scholarship. And the first to come to college for their family, making ends meet, figuring it out, and trying to elevate their experience and make something of themselves and make the best better to still align from four Hs that I still love to use. Well, I wonder, I imagine a lot of the students going to do that. Maybe it was true for you.
This was the first time that they had to talk to elected official and kind of petition them
and make their voice heard and try to, you know, ask them to do something. 100% cracked. And, you know, there was interest from a lot of us, but no, we not had the opportunity. And it was a
“great chance for that specific committee. You had individuals from all of the grades,”
including grad school students. So there were some that had more experience, but they had learned in their previous years. And so it was really great to really engage in the democratic process. And, you know, talk to the legislators and do what are founding fathers wanted us to do, which was being gaged in this thing called politics. That's running our country, making us the
greatest thing out there. So no, it's a great opportunity. And truth be told, I quickly learned
the legislators loved that. You know, they're very happy to work with a lobbyist and it's in house. And that's being paid. But to hear the real life stories, it just brings it home. And it makes it more real for them. So your parents at all, political, or they get involved at all, or it was just like a whole new deal for you. This was very new. For me, I had some family that was engaged with it. But Mom and Dad, like I said, they were teachers. Dad was the
high school band director and then became principal. Mom, for all of my childhood, was a general music teacher. So it was, it was very much, I mean, again, tropes of small towns, everything's political. But, in terms of actually running for office or being a campaigner or a fundraiser or anything, like that, absolutely not. So it was a very, very high learning curve, but I had some really good teachers, which was great. So what kind of took you the next step in getting involved in the career
in politics? Absolutely. This was one of my favorite things. And I learned about it through those once a year trips to Nashville to lobby the legislature, how the Tennessee legislature works and operates for probably out 50 years now. They started an internship program and it's a paid internship program to bring students from across the state that are in political science or pre-law or any of history courses to come and get their hands in the meat of the legislature supporting committees
and different members. So I worked with the political science department at Tennessee, Govall's. And we got me a political science monitor that sent me up to be eligible. I interviewed and applied, had to drive to Nashville and sit before a panel of college professors from across the the state. And I was fortunate enough to support the health and welfare committee. So phone love with health policy. That was unmanounced to me something that was going to follow me
throughout my career. But I did the semester there, had a great time working for the committee. That turned into a summer internship with the Department of Treasury. And then I had to go back
To school, probably one of the most difficult things was going back to school...
job. But I did the last year. My advisor said, I need you to write one more paper.
I said, but it's a 45 page paper. I really don't want to. I just like, yeah, yeah, but you can do it. I said, what about 45 bullet points? I just like, no, that's not the source. 45 minutes, speech. Nope, that's not how this works. I said, okay, she's like, I need you to do a culmination of all the things that we've been teaching you and put it into a real world and I said, okay, deal. So I went back, didn't know the year. It was great. Because now I'm the senior. I've now worked.
And I got to mentor a lot of those freshmen and sophomores that were coming with me to lobby the hill that following spring. So it was great, you know, pay it forward moment. And uh, ended up graduating and I knew I wanted to come to DC. So I interviewed with a variety of the different Tennessee delegates. Um, very fortunate that I got to work for a woman named Dine Black, which is my member of Congress, which made it especially special. Oh, yeah, I have worked for my
own member of Congress. It's super cool because you learn about like your cities and some people pop
up like, I know that person, right? And I've always thought of Congressmen is kind of the, uh,
“it's like a really grown-up Alderman, you know, and it's like, it's a really important”
all of them who has federal response, but they're still in that they're not all the way, only federal national, everything. They still care a lot about what are these the good ones. Yes, a lot about local and state issues, especially local. And, you know, the best ones really are so connected to folks in their districts and uh, and the, and the issues face to their districts, I, I worked for one very successful Congressman in a swing district who's always challenged,
uh, in this case by the Democrats. And what almost lose, but put it out and he, his strategies, he would take state issues or I'm sorry, local issues and figure out how to get a national hook on them, like funding or it's a, you know, messaging thing or bring you. It was about like drugs and schools. He'd bring in like we did a screening for kids of all of like, this is your brain on drugs. This is, and they're like, tell us what you think about these
different ads and stuff. It was just to connect. Yeah. And I know, I'm sorry, but for ranting on like, I do think Congressmen are really interesting. Those offices are so fascinating because there's such a local element and yet there's to say the Eugene, there's a, you know, kind of war. There's a lot of
“really, really important stuff on the federal level, too. No, 100%. And, and that was another reason why”
ultimately decided to work with her. I had a couple of offers, but she was an e-owners by trying to
even though I don't know. And so it was something that has the people person as somebody who wanted to be in Congress, to help people. I thought there's no one better than a nurse. She, she understood it. She wanted to be connected. She wanted to, you know, the best times that I had working with her were actually when we'd go back to the district together. And I would help get her around the events. I was a director of operations. So I just run her life for. And I was very grateful that she trusted
me, which, you know, takes a lot of trust. That's your, giving your life away to a mid-twent year to all that just graduated from college. But no, it was a great time. And again, with her being a nurse, Boel rooted in healthcare policy. The addition that got pulled in for me was she was also
“in ways and means. And so that is, of course, one of the most important. It's the only committee”
in the house that's recognized in the constitution. And so that helped me understand more about tax policy and finance. And it has its hands pretty much everywhere in commerce, silver, et cetera. And none but out to me, that too was going to continue to follow me as I've come here to work for Americans for prosperity. And so, worked with her for six years. She ended up retiring. So I, you know, regretfully had to help her shut down the office. But we passed the torch to a new
member. And he's doing a great job with his team. And I had to go find a job. And so I was like, "Well, what am I going to go do?" And I'd heard some things about some nonprofits. I knew the spirit behind nonprofits is bright in alignment with what I wanted to do. And I found my way to a small social interest group and got to work there and really earn my chops because it was small. There was a lot of space for me to grow, learn, and learn some skills.
Found myself after a couple of years. We got their COVID. And I felt like I'd grown out grown or hit my, you know, my top. And so I took a break and in enters AFP. Very fortunate to have followed AFP for years. Tennessee has a great chapter. And so we had been involved and engaged with them from the Congresson's office. But then I also had some friends at the national level working here in HQ and in the DC office. And they introduced me to the Washington
Inflation awareness campaign called the true cost of Washington.
for me. I had not traveled a lot in our country. Good old southern boy. You know, I stayed in this house. DC was a big change for me after leaving Knoxville. And had not gotten very far west.
And this is an opportunity for me to cross the Mississippi. But it was an amazing summer.
Some of my best friends that still work with AFP. I made on that trip. So what were you guys to think of through what you did on the true cost? Absolutely. Yeah, this is this is, uh, I'd already following the love with AFP. And this made me understand why they have the magic sauce. Um, they're not just a think tank. We're do tank. And so we put our money where our mouth is. We put our people what we believe in. And so we traveled around the country partnering
with, uh, independently owned by gas stations. And we would use our resources to host an event for about an hour and a half. Sometimes two hours we've reduced the cost of gas from wherever it was currently to a predetermined number. Uh, it was a national average that I can't remember. I believe it was like 20, 20 or 22. I think it was when President Biden came into office. Yes, that was the, the gas. Yes. When it, the, the, the President, the down a gas that he came into office. Yes, I think
“and it, the widely enough, I can't remember that, but I can, pretty sure was 239. It was we took everything”
down to 239. Um, and it was really awesome because people line up. There'd be lines of cars. And that, that's where we came into play. The team that I was on, we provided consistent, uh, security and logistics and management. Yeah. Uh, the different St. teams would come in and they'd support us with volunteers hanging out, uh, flyers or just meeting and greeting with people, but our team was in charge of making sure that the event happened. Um, but I've done a number of
those events in the past one hour. So we used to do them years ago when President Obama was in office. It was even, but this was like a, for some, a systemic across the country. And I think we really professionalized it. You're a big part of that, uh, but there's such great events because you really see people who are, I mean, unfortunately, see people who are struggling. Yeah. Folks who when gas is a dollar more than it used to be have to make decisions literally between getting a work
to earn any money that, and like eating or, you know, some, you know, getting clothes or something. It's any like, is that really hyperbly? No, there's people there who will sit in line for two hours,
“you know, because this is a, it's really important that they're going to save $10 on their gas.”
When they fill up, and, and it's, uh, so to be able to have those conversations with people and the pump in this case, you know, and be able to help educate them as to why gas is so expensive. And, you know, that, that this was often a government created phenomena, how it's impacting their lives, but then to benefit from the stories that people are telling us, like it's like,
you know, we feel like we're spreading the word. The reality is like so often they're giving us,
yeah, that, you know, a part of themselves and sharing their stories, which not only motivates us, but gives us those real authentic stories to go back to decision makers and say, hey, you know, I talked to, you know, Jenny at this gas pump, and she doesn't know if her, you know, if she's keeping lunch because she's got to put, you know, gas in the car. No, yeah, nail head. As I was reflecting, you know, in advance of this conversation,
I was reflecting on some of the stories that are heard and I, um, there were so many great stories from people, just real Americans, doing their best to live their lives, to make a difference, to support their families, um, and, you know, if you don't mind, I'd love to share a couple of
“these two, I don't need that, I like it, yeah. Um, so I believe it was in Michigan, we had a grandmother”
with the granddaughter coming to get the gas, and, you know, obviously, I've been a camp counselor,
so I was kind of entertaining the kid while they'd been waiting in line, and, and we're finally
getting to pump gas, and grandmother pulled me aside, and just like, I'm so appreciative of this, we got to a notice from our landlords that because of this, that or the other HVAC was going up, and so they were going to have to raise rent to do a building update on the HVAC, and I didn't know how I was going to afford it, and this is not going to fix everything, but it's such a small hello. Um, we were out in Colorado, and it was by that time it was a beginning of
school year for college kids, and there was a husband wife who had just dropped their daughter off at one of the universities in Colorado, and they were driving back to Texas, and they said, we would not have, like, we were going to have trouble paying for the gas to get home, but we knew we needed to get her here with the trailer, with the clothes, with all the furniture and stuff, just like this is, this is setting us up from success, whatever are like 16 or a drive home.
There were so many great stories from farmers, small business owners, the ele...
the welders, the the cafeteria ladies, just trying to go and do what they wanted to do,
what they loved, and and giving back in their own ways. Um, you know, it's it's very eye-opening that sometimes decisions in DC that you don't think about, because it's like what we need to do this, we don't think about how it trickles down or how it affects the normal person, um, and because there's so many levers and pieces that go into the machine, but at the same point, like we end up hurting people and putting a lot of burden on the everyday American that's just not really fair.
Yeah, I mean, look at the so often decisions that get made in Washington or state capitals, even village halls, don't take into consideration a real life impacts. They're driven by
special institutions or they're driven by an agenda, and you know, I feel like it folks really
could listen to how things are impacting the taxpayers and everyday people, makes you
“real difference. I think it's one of the real strengths when AFP's at its best is that we aggregate”
those voices to make them louder than the special interests, hopefully, or that local mayor, whoever it is to say, hey, this is, uh, you know, this is really making a difference in people's lives, or this is really hurting people, because the people who are hurt the most are the people who have the least margin, which are folks who who make less money, they're poor, they've less advantages, and those are the, you know, the working folks who just really get hurt, and I think like so often
we want to give voice to folks who don't have, you feel like they don't have time to go and make
their voice heard or, you know, show up at an office or something, because they're working to jobs and they're working hard, and they get us been all their time to make their, you know, their family work and make ends meet. So I'm glad they were able to kind of gather a lot of
“those stories, and then I know that we kind of amplify those as part of that effort. I also think”
that the true cost and what you're involved in was a really great example of what makes America's prosperity unique, because yeah, we run ads, we have male, we glob-y, we do all the things of Xecribes too, but we also really believe in our core and grassroots, and sometimes that's people going knocking on doors and making phone calls, have conversations, but a lot of times it's also event-driven stuff where we're gathering people together and trying to, you know,
either put on a show to send the message or, you know, get people involved to then hopefully put them through the system to kind of go be advocates themselves. No, absolutely, that is one of my favorite things that I've been able to do. I've done some door-knocking before with hosted events in the states with hosted events in DC. In addition to all staff, where we all get to come together and re-energize ourselves, one of the things that we do in DC with the government affairs team is we do
a thing called capital conference. Yeah, and that's where we bring all of our state teams up to DC, and we're really excited because they come with their stories from their door-knocking, their events, their grassroots, and we help catapult them into capital Hill so that they have the meetings with members, the staff, and the decision makers to help bring that life back to the, and that realism back to Congress. And let me know, like, hey, this is, this is how this is impacting. This is what
your people really care about. I'm not to say that having worked on an office, I know there's a lot
“of effort and energy put by good members to be connected, but it's all about, and this is what I think”
you're getting on a nice share, the same perspective, giving people a space and a place to have their voice heard, so that they actually understand like they are apart. That was one of the biggest things from the true cost that I took away. So many people felt like they had no power, and they had no opportunity to say anything. And so with AFP coming in and actually saying, no, we want to hear from you. I think, again, is what makes it such a special place. Yeah. So, your career then
takes to turn you, you're now, you're working brave people now you moved over to our federal fair esteem. And, you know, folks, man, I know this, but, you know, we have a whole, we call it our freedom embassy. Yes, right on Capitol Hill, it's a great office space, the number floors, and our staff from our government affairs teams, right there on Capitol Hill, and, you know, we've before just to work out of there, get to another there, but tell us, you know, how do you feel about
this next chapter of like trying to make a difference on Capitol Hill? You know, and it is a very exciting time. We've been in the space, about two, three years. We're getting our stride. We've expanded our access in the space, and we're innovating on the resources that we have in it. Um, putting it in a podcast, but it's going to be great. Um, but no, I mean, innovating the space,
Innovating the events, we've had some really great opportunities to have off ...
conversations, hosts, reporters to, you know, share, media insights. Um, we've, we've brought, like I
“said, we brought grassroots in, we brought in our volunteers, not just our state team, we've”
actually brought in some of our individuals. Sometimes to meet with, like, Speaker Mike Johnson, or, you know, the majority whip, or majority leader, Steve Scully, some of you know, we had lead all the leadership from Congress came and spoke at the Freedom Embassy, which was a stressful time for you, but like, but we brought our activists and the state teams in so that they could connect
that the first press for his organization that's state-based, but very, you know, but that, but very
impactful and cares a lot about the national policy. So, you know, we'll meet with you in your D.C. office, and then we'll meet with you in your district office, and then you'll see us at events across your district, you can't hide. You're going to know us. Yeah. And that's the great thing because we're good people. We're fun. Um, let's do the right thing. Trip. But no, Freedom Embassy, we're, we're really excited to continue driving the American voice in Washington, D.C. We are one of the
closest organizational groups to Capitol Hill. We're very blessed to be just right by the buildings,
which just puts us, you know, members want to come by. They want us to see us. They're staff
want to come by. They want to make new matters. Convenience does. You know, actually being effective. So, you put those together, hopefully we get a, yeah, there's a great venn diagram there. But no, it's one of those things. I don't know what I don't know. And so, there's just a world of opportunities with the space, and what we're really looking forward to seeing all the things can happen. But like you said, those are some great events so far. And I can't imagine anything,
but good things in the future. So, just as you wrap up, would you say to folks,
someone's for a small town, or, you know, they're from a household where parents were involved
in politics, which is also what I was from. You know, but then they think like, oh, this is these sounds kind of interesting to me. What would you say to somebody, you know, a young person like that, or even someone who moved on their career little more, or just like, hey, I'd like public policy.
“I would like to make a difference. What would you say to them, any advice that you give them?”
Coming from a small town, this is one of the things that I do feel very important about, when I go back home and I see people from my town, and they're like, I can't believe you're in DC. It's such a big city. And sure, yeah, by square footage, by population, it's a big city, but there's still people in that city, just like there's people in my hometown, and they're out there being kind and good. You just got to find it. And so I like to joke, it's like, you just got to find
the small town in the big city. And that's, you know, if you continue to be authentic and open, and, you know, you're true self, and trying to connect with others, you're going to find your people. It's rectum. Yeah. When you, when you kind of give off that energy, once we're metaphysical, but you do, you know, you're kind of others, and people are attracted to that, and you attract, hopefully good people as your community then. Exactly. And, you know,
you're going to find that community. And it's going to make that big city much more like a small town like home, like you're looking for. Good. Yeah. Okay. I can't wait to see again when we, when I come over to the free membership. And I appreciate it. Come on down. Share and just story with us in all the work you've been doing. Oh, my pleasure. Thank you so much for having me. All right. Thanks. And hope all staffs great. Yes. Hey, folks, if you like this episode,
feel free to follow us on social media at either Facebook, Instagram, or YouTube.
“I always remember, freedom and liberty are easily taken for granted. Don't take it for granted.”
We'll have to defend liberty for you. Thanks for joining us and we'll see you on the next episode. Every day, to expand freedom and opportunity in their communities, by visiting AmericanPotential.com.
