Good evening District 27. It was a busy day here in Martin attending meetings and talking with voters about important issues occurring at the county and local school district. One of my Facebook followers sent me the following Letter to the Editor that ran in this week’s Bennett County Booster, and I thought I would take this opportunity to respond to Mr. Olson’s challenge.
Mr. Olson serves on the Bennett County School Board as its chairman. In his letter to the editor he writes, that we need to highlight the positive things that are going on in our community. I couldn’t agree more with Mr. Olson’s assessment. I have personally been active in this community trying to make it a better place to live. For example, every day, I walk past Mr. Olson’s home picking up the recyclables that are littered on the streets of Martin while I pray a rosary for the special intentions of our community. However, unlike Mr. Olson, I am not naïve to think that we should see the world through rose-colored glasses. That is where Mr. Olson and I differ. I believe Mr. Olson refuses to acknowledge the elephant in the room and would prefer to whitewash or ignore a problem or deny that one may even exist. This may sound like harsh criticism, but that is the very reason why I decided to run for office and I, thereby, am taking up Mr. Olson on his offer to put my “name on a ballot” this November.
People, who know me, know that I am a problem solver. As an engineer, we are trained to find solutions to problems. If I don’t know how to solve a problem, I surround myself with people who can assist me in solving the problem. Moreover, I prefer to nip problems in the bud before they get out of control. One of my biggest pet peeves is when someone else has to come behind the person who created a problem. The second person has to come along to solve the problem because the first person refused to tackle the problem head on and let the problem get bigger. For example, tackling the out-of-control spending at the federal, state, and local government levels comes to mind. Are we ever going to stop the deficit spending, or are we simply going to kick the can down the road and let the next generation tackle the problem? This problem could equally apply to an individual who likes to go on a spending spree while loading up the credit card with unsurmountable debt, meanwhile the spouse of the individual is busy slaving away on a job to pay down the credit card debt.
Far too long, I sat on the sidelines idle, seeing the world continue to go on around me. I was the “silent majority” that Mr. Olson referenced in his letter to the editor. I was complacent and said, “Not my problem,” but then I would rant in silence about when things in this town, state, or country continued to unravel. For too long, I saw our government continue to take away our rights and freedoms guaranteed under the U.S. Constitution. I have read about people's lives destroyed by our government and I experienced this firsthand. I decided I had enough of the government bureaucrats wanting to control our lives and I decided to take a position and stood up for truth, righteousness, and justice. Remember how the government tried to control our lives during the Covid pandemic?
The South Dakota State motto says, “Under God, the people rule.” I didn’t want to get into this race, but the Lord came a knocking and I answered the call to get into the fight: to preserve our family values, to fight for our kids and for the unborn, to push back on the woke agenda, to fight for property rights, to weed out corruption at our state and local government, to stand up for the men and women serving in our military, our veterans, our first responders, the men and women in blue, and so forth.
Now that I am in my first political race of my life, the heat has been turned up and I am also getting pushback from people who don’t necessarily agree with my position, view, or statements that I have shared publicly, even within my own political party. I acknowledge that there are people out there that I am never going to please. After all, if I am not provoking people’s opinions, then I haven’t done my job as a candidate to win over people to my position. Those politicians that have the power and are paid off by corporate lobbyists and special interest groups are afraid of me because they do not like the questions that I ask or what I stand for. This is evident based on the fact that I have received only a few campaign donations from special interest groups totaling $550 to date.
A candidate does not sit in the basement during an election cycle and not take questions from the public. On the contrary, a candidate must be able to engage the voter and answer the tough questions. A candidate must also set aside his ego and acknowledge when he doesn’t have enough information to provide an answer on the spot. A candidate has a responsibility and a duty to educate the public on their position so that the voter can be well informed prior to entering the voting booth. You may not agree with my viewpoint on a given position, but at least you know where I stand. I will not stick my finger high into the air to check the prevailing political “winds” to simply get elected. It is not in my nature.
I got into this race because like Mr. Olson said, I want to make a “positive change” in our district. I want to better our small-town communities by providing necessary infrastructure dollars for capital improvements. I want to support our teachers and paraprofessionals so that they have all the necessary tools and equipment they need to perform their job. I want to see all of our small towns within District 27 have an effective volunteer fire department so that they are able to put out brush and structural fires without having to wait extended periods of time relying on another VFD to come along and put the fire under control. I want to see communities where small business owners can thrive in a competitive market. I want our health care facilities have the latest technologies made available so that they can improve patient care at the local level. I want to see community celebrations that actively involve all community members who take pride in their community and share in the responsibilities of planning a celebration rather than the same volunteers who continue to give of themselves year after year. These are a few of the “positives” I would like to see.
Jumping into the political arena is not easy. It’s not for the faint of heart. Mr. Olson is right. It is time to for the silent majority to speak out AND to hold our government officials and politicians accountable. I may not be wearing rose-colored glasses like Mr. Olson, but in the words of the great orator and statesman Frederick Douglass, “The life of the nation is secure only while the nation is honest, truthful and virtuous.” I hope that I am entrusted with your vote come November 5th. I am not running for political gain or power. I am the candidate that can effect positive change, but at the end of the day, I am running for you. Challenge accepted. God bless.
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