Alex Martin for South Dakota State Senate, District 20

Arnold Schwarzenegger, body building champion, movie star, Governor and environmentalist really set the tone for us. "Help others and give something back. I guarantee you will discover that while public service improves the lives and the world around you, its greatest reward is the enrichment and new meaning it will bring your own life." Arnold Schwarzenegger https://www.brainyquote.com/authors/arnold-schwarzenegger-quotes "Failure is not an option. Everyone has to succeed. "Arnold Schwarzenegger https://www.brainyquote.com/authors/arnold-schwarzenegger-quotes   Do people running for public office think of these things?  "Everyone has to succeed."  Yes, everyone. I do.  Success as a society includes everyone, absolutely everyone.  It is not for those who go to the country club. Economically, politically, socially, and for the environment, we need to improve things so much, on such a big scale, not only in South Dakota but everywhere. Businesses have to kee...

Here are some great ideas from Dr. Yunus, 2006 Nobel Prize Winner.  He encourages us all to think in the best possible terms:   “Think and Act Like Job Creators” "Another area that Yunus is passionate about is creating a world without unemployment. He believes that we can create that world by encouraging the youth to think and act like job creators. He worries that today’s youth is only focused on seeking salaried jobs, rather than being able to think from an entrepreneurial perspective. This is especially a problem since the number of salaried jobs available has not kept pace with the demand in regions such as Bangladesh." “ A job is an old-fashioned idea from the twentieth century,” states Yunus. He believes that the popular idea of jobs did not exist until after the industrial revolution (with the arrival of current education system). To encourage the second generation of Grameen Bank loan-seekers to be entrepreneurial, he tells them, “How did your mother manage to create...

Here is some more wisdom from Arnold.  I actually found 3 great quotes that will interest you, if you are interested in having your life be a success every day, and how to have an exciting life, too. “If I can see it and believe it, then I can achieve it.”―   Arnold Schwarzenegger “My definition of living is to have excitement always; that’s the difference between living and existing.”―  Arnold Schwarzenegger “If you want to turn a vision into reality, you have to give 100% and never stop believing in your dream.” https://everydaypower.com/arnold-schwarzenegger-quotes/ So when you have excitement in your life EVERY DAY, and you focus your vision on what you want to do, you have found great wisdom! Can you always believe in your dream, EVERY DAY?  Can you see it and believe it and give 100% to it?  Then you will HAVE it! You can have extraordinary success.  You can have an ABSOLUTELY EXCITING life, every day! Your mind can see it and believe it, and you can ...

This is a great triumph for Australia!  Let's celebrate it! We can do this, too!   The CNN article said:  " Australia registered no new local Covid-19 cases on Saturday for the first time since June 9, marking a major milestone in the country's battle against the deadly virus. "The apparent turning point comes just months after  Victoria declared a "state of disaster"  to stem an outbreak that saw as many as 725 people in a single day test positive for the virus in the southeastern state." "The 1st national zero community transmission day since June 9," Health Minister Greg Hunt said on Twitter on Sunday." "Thank you to all of our amazing health & public health workers & above all else the Australian people." The City of Melbourne, Australia, (5 million people)  had been on lockdown for 112 days.  Australia is 25 million people.  South Dakota has 885,000 people. "South Dakota Health Officials reported 1,332 new case...

 I always like reading Arnold Schwarzenegger quotes.  “ Be hungry for success , hungry to make your mark, hungry to be seen and to be heard and to have an effect. And as you move up and become successful, make sure also to be hungry for helping others.”  – Arnold Schwarzenegger https://everydaypower.com/arnold-schwarzenegger-quotes/ He says Be Hungry to have an effect, and Be Hungry to help other people! His first quote is stunning: “Failure is not an option. Everyone has to succeed.”  – Arnold Schwarzenegger  Be hungry to help everyone succeed!  There is a way to do this!   Elections are easy to think about.  You "select" the best option or candidate. What is much faster is your Intense Desire (your Hunger) to excel, create jobs for yourself and other people AND to make sure Everyone Succeeds! In a free country like the United States, when we watch our thinking, we can succeed every day, and help others succeed.  (If you want to get te...

This is the 2nd highest number of cases South Dakota has had in one day.    https://www.argusleader.com/story/news/2020/10/31/south-dakota-reports-new-covid-19-cases-10-deaths/6086982002/ https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/?utm_campaign=homeAdvegas1?%22%20%5Cl%20%22countries#countries Notice that South Dakota's number is MORE than the other 9 countries combined !  China and Japan have maybe 1, 125, 000, 000. Why are all these Asian and Pacific Islands countries so low, and South Dakota numbers are so HIGH? Discipline. Masks.  Testing.  Contact Tracing.  Quarantine.  Washing of hands for 20 seconds. They do it. Maybe half of South Dakota does not do it.  And the virus spreads more, every day. Is there any reason why we can't be doing as good as New Zealand is doing? New Zealand is 4.8 million people.  South Dakota is 885,000 people.  That's about a 6 to 1 ratio. So New Zealand had 7 cases on October 31.  If we were as low as t...

"The mind is the limit. As long as the mind can envision the fact that you can do something, you can do it, as long as you really believe 100 percent." Arnold Schwarzenegger https://www.brainyquote.com/authors/arnold-schwarzenegger-quotes   What can you dream?   Big things?  Great things to help everyone? The bodybuilder, movie star, Governor, and environmentalist we know as Arnold also said: "Failure is not an option. Everyone has to succeed." Arnold Schwarzenegger https://www.brainyquote.com/authors/arnold-schwarzenegger-quotes Arnold also said:  " Government's first duty and highest obligation is public safety." Arnold Schwarzenegger https://www.brainyquote.com/authors/arnold-schwarzenegger-quotes Believe in your big vision 100% and you succeed!  Believe also that everyone has to succeed with you, everyone, the unemployed workers, the homeless, the immigrants, the part time workers, everyone! When we were a monarchy it was early 1776. Now we are a f...

The Argus Leader  reported 1,560 infections today on October 30. https://www.argusleader.com/story/news/2020/10/30/south-dakota-again-hits-record-number-new-covid-19-infections-12-more-die/6084748002/ This is a record high for South Dakota. Does the Governor have anything to say? Does the Legislature desire to meet to take Action? 12 more deaths were reported. Governor Noem apparently is out of state today. She won the election in November 2018 by 2 percentage points. Now, on the biggest day of the Covid-19 invasion in South Dakota, she is absent. The Legislature is not in session now. According to Keloland news:  " “We expect the vaccine to be allocated by the federal government to the state of South Dakota in the very near future. We’ve been told to be ready for our first shipment in the middle of November,” Malsam-Rysdon said. Malsam-Rysdon said on October 28th. " https://www.keloland.com/news/healthbeat/coronavirus/october-number-of-covid-19-cases-nearly-quadruple-sd-tops...

  The most powerful step that anyone can take to turn their dreams into reality is a simple one. You just need to start. Marc Randolp h https://www.brainyquote.com/lists/authors/top-10-marc-randolph-quotes Marc Randolph is the co-founder of Netflix.  Notice that he did not say succeed or any other word. He simply said.... Start. How many times have you thought of a brilliant or interesting idea, and you never did one thing to start it? Maybe you thought about it.  Maybe you thought, I'll ask someone about this idea. But you did nothing. And the idea vanished. Take that one powerful step. You want it to become reality, right? Just Start. You might spend 10 minutes a day on it.  Ingvar Kamprad, founder of IKEA, said you can do SO MUCH in only 10 minutes! Actually work on the idea, make it real, even for 10 or 20 minutes a day. Then months or years later, you will look at it (whether it is a business, a social business, running for office, starting a class or going to c...

 So on Thursday, October 28, Taiwan had ZERO locally transmitted cases for 200 days.  Taiwan is 23 million people. https://www.axios.com/taiwan-record-200-days-no-local-covid-19-cases-b90d4923-fd66-4a24-8b5e-208eeb9b3f13.html (AP article-   https://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/health/taiwan-marks-200-days-without-domestic-covid-19-infection/      ) So this means everyone living in and resident in Taiwan, there was ZERO spread.  The last domestic case was April 12.  Since April 13, zero cases. "CDC officials noted the milestone and thanked the public for playing a role, while urging people to continue to wear masks and to wash their hands often."  (Associated Press, above link). So what radical things were the people on Taiwan doing for the last 200 days?  Wearing a mask.  Washing their hands often. That's all. Since the start of the pandemic, Taiwan has recorded 553 cases of covid-19 (remember in South Dakota lately, we ha...

    “ Failure is not an option . Everyone has to succeed.”  – Arnold Schwarzenegger https://wealthygorilla.com/21-greatest-arnold-schwarzenegger-quotes-remember/   Wow!  That is a BIG idea! What we can do, as voters and citizens of South Dakota, to make that come true? Unemployment has gone up in 2020, and South Dakota is not known for high wages.  What we can we do to help those who don't have jobs, have trouble paying rent, or only have part time hours? 1.  First and foremost, Vote for people who will assist in creating jobs and lowering taxes!  (We have 9 Libertarians running for State Senators this year in South Dakota!)  Voting is you saying, I'm in charge, and I choose this person to represent me and DO something great for our State! 2.  As I say on this blog, be a job creator!  Create 3 or 30 or 300 jobs, here in South Dakota!  You can do this as a traditional ultra business owner, or as a social business owner (where yo...

Dr. Yunus, in 2017, said that we are all natural entrepreneurs. 'We are all entrepreneurs': Muhammad Yunus on changing the world https://www.theguardian.com/sustainable-business/2017/mar/29/we-are-all-entrepreneurs-muhammad-yunus-on-changing-the-world-one-microloan-at-a-time He said:   “Human beings are not born to work for anybody else,” he says. “For millions of years that we were on the planet, we never worked for anybody. We are go-getters. We are farmers. We are hunters. We lived in caves and we found our own food, we didn’t send job applications. So this is our tradition." When he was in Australia, he pointed out to the Guardian that many people in his country, Bangladesh, proved they were entrepreneurs. “There are roughly 160 million people all over the world in microcredit, mostly women. And they have proven one very important thing: that we are all entrepreneurs. Illiterate rural women in the villages, in the mountains, take tiny little loans – $30, $40 – and they...

  Keloland has a headline:  "Most South Dakotans feel President Trump is doing a good job of handling the pandemic."voters Don Jorgensen wrote the article. You go down to the 6th paragraph and read: "47% of our voters give him a favorable rating while 42% give him an unfavorable rating.  11% are neutral."    https://www.keloland.com/news/local-news/keloland-media-group-argus-leader-poll-most-south-dakotans-feel-president-trump-is-doing-a-good-job-of-handling-the-pandemic/ How is 47% most? It isn't. In fact, according to that poll, 53% either give Trump an unfavorable rating or are neutral.  Note;  Neutral is not "doing a good job"--it is neutral. So how can 47% be MOST (??) South Dakotans?   It isn't. At best, it is "slightly less" than half of South Dakotans are convinced Trump is doing a "good job", while according to the poll, 53% have an unfavorable or neutral opinion of his "handling of the pandemic." That was 6 p...