They say all politics is local, but this is easy to forget amidst the incessant frenzy of a 24-hour news cycle that tends to focus exclusively on national politics. For many people, particularly those residing in sprawling suburban bedroom communities or bustling urban centers, it is easy to overlook the local in favor of the national.

So I just got off the phone with a staffer at Rep. Kristi Noem’s (R-SD) office. I had a simple question, “Who did Kristi support for House Majority Leader in last Friday’s vote.”

Do you see that it is essential that the body of the people know and understand what law is and what it is not? Do you see that, unless the people know the standards which establish legislative enactments as valid law or show them to be lawless frauds, they will not be able to hold a lawless legislature like the one we have in Maryland in check? To enjoy the benefits of law and liberty, we cannot be ignorant of their Source and nature.

George Washington warned against the “baneful effects of the spirit of the party” and made mention to the “torrent of boundless ambition” and of the “sapping current of corrupted morals.” The scope of Cochran’s campaign tactics are beholden to both his “boundless ambition” and “corrupted morals.” If these attributes are worthy Senatorial appellations, then by his own testament, Cochran should be Reid’s replacement.

Over a few decades modern climate science has evolved, or if you will, devolved from it’s infancy, from scientific observation to dogma—or “Climate Change-ism.” Not unlike the roots of various other worldwide religious beliefs, this new faith sprouted from the alarmist cries that “The End is Neigh.”

Steve Deace’s latest column highlights how the RINO establishment in Mississippi squeaked out a victory over Tea Party-backed Chris McDaniel yesterday. Deace points out that in addition to mobilizing Democrats to vote in the runoff (yes, Democrats were allowed to vote in a Republican primary), the GOP establishment used the same kind of smears we’re used to hearing from Leftist Democrats to turn people from McDaniel and toward the oh-so-sweet liberal Thad Cochran.

South Dakota Gov. Dennis Daugaard is encouraging those who want to help residents impacted by a tornado last week in Wessington Springs to donate to the town’s relief fund.

The South Dakota Republican Party made national headlines recently for our resolution calling for the impeachment of President Barack Obama, but there were several other noteworthy resolutions passed at the convention last Saturday. In addition to this one and one on illegal immigration, the South Dakota GOP also passed a resolution calling for the investigation of the IRS for targeting conservative groups, and to defund further expansion of the department until an investigation has been completed.

Lois Lerner’s emails outside the IRS are missing between January 2009 and April 2011. The agency is claiming her hard drive crashed, that it recycled the backup tapes on its server and that it threw Lerner’s hard drive away after the crash. Thus, says the agency, it is impossible for the IRS to retrieve email communications that were not internal and backed up on other agency computers.