DRY BONES

"and breathe upon these slain, that they may live" -Ezekiel 37:9

I’m not breaking any news here to assert that the state of the conservative grassroots movement in SD is in…well, let me understate it with the term disarray.

Sixteen months ago, in the months leading up to the 2024 election, the cohesion in the ranks was nearly watertight, our mission clear and our eyes wide open, facing our enemies in a shield wall with few gaps between. I won’t bother with a history lesson of how we got here, as most of you have lived it right along with me.

Thankfully, there is a solution, if we can get enough of our fellows to simply choose it. Can we do it? Can we all do it? Because it’s our only hope. Politics won’t save us. Politicians won’t save us. Who saves?

I’d like to share a recent data point that illustrates the overall problem. Think of it as a full blood workup for the SD GOP, particularly the We the People wing.

WELCOME TO THE JUNGLE

So last Saturday, against my better judgment, I attended the Minnehaha County GOP “Lincoln/Reagan Dinner” the other night. Things being what they are - chaotic and poisonous- in this current iteration of what is laughably some sort of political party organization, I never would have imagined myself getting all dolled up and driving into the other side of Sioux Falls for 4 hours of shoulder rubbing with a slew of people - mostly of the elected flavor - who I have painstakingly, and justifiably, lambasted the past few years. But, a friend of mine who is running for high office - MCNEAL FOR US SENATE!- invited me to join him, so, along with another friend who is running - ADAM LONG FOR D2 HOUSE! - I put on the full armor of God, girded up my loins & entered the fray.

For readers who are not up to speed on the current status of the MCGOP, think Ukraine. Remember that war? Yeah, well apparently it’s still going on, though rarely mentioned in the “news” anymore.

In normal times, this event would have happened sometime in the fall, and it actually was scheduled to happen last September, albeit briefly, then just…faded away. Like the Russia/Ukraine War, no one seems to know what’s happening, or when it could possibly ever reconcile itself into some kind of peaceful existence. It’s just WAR WAR WAR ad infinitum.

More on the history of the great drama that is the MCGOP later.

This event, which like other dinners that happen in counties all over SD is a hybrid of speech-making, fund-raising & meet-n-greets, was headlined by former congressman Madison Cawthorn, which is the most Carolina name ever.

Fortunately, there were a few friends in attendance -

HEATHER BAXTER FOR SOS!

&

LEAH ANDERSON FOR MC AUDITOR!

&

JULIANN TALKINGTON FOR SF CITY COUNCIL! and even my friend Greg Jamison, who needs your prayers because he is currently suffering from stage 4 Terrible Voting Syndrome. It’s just awful.

The event itself was what one would expect from such a thing, generally speaking. Each attendee that is running for office got 30 whole seconds to give their elevator pitch, which isn’t a lot. My average sneezings take longer! After the 16 or so candidates gave their testimonies, Governor Rhoden was allowed a bit more time to make his case for (re, sorta)election. The only thing of note from that speech, besides the disappointing lack of eloquence, was his poor decision to brag about all of the “Economic Development” he’s been up to. He must have missed the memo that normal people are becoming fully aware that that phrase is code for “Scammy Corporate Welfare”, and is actually really gay. Readers will be heartened to hear that I acted with the utmost respect during this portion, following the traditional rules of decorum, despite my usual inclinations towards scene-making.

The last candidate to speechify was Toby Doeden, who apparently paid enough to the county Chair for the privilege of having the timer turned off altogether. I’m certainly no expert, but it strikes me a bit strange to have the county GOP’s annual hootenanny turn into an auction for the highest bidder. Better to have given equal time to any and all governor candidates, I think. But, I suspect that without Doeden’s large ($20k?) “sponsorship”, the Minnehaha GOP LincolnReaganBush Day Dinner would never have materialized.

VIBE

I’ve never really thought of myself as a vibe person, but I guess I am because the whole time I was there I was overcome with a feeling that can best be described as…sad. Which is weird, because normally these type of events are kinda fun. One of the really cool things about SD politics is that it isn’t too difficult or extraordinary to be able to yuk it up and get to know our electeds at pretty much all levels. Most of them are fairly accessible, and not too snooty. This dinner wasn’t much fun, though it’s not the fault of emcee John Small who is always a lovable ball of funness.

Ever since the fateful MegaPrison vote of Sept 2025, the vibe has definitely shifted. Gone is the easy camaraderie of fellow soldiers on deployment. The long knives did their damage, and some of us wonder, “Can we ever come back?”

Well, there is a way.

Dry bones….

“Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.” 2 Corinthians 5:14

As badly as the grassroots has been hardened by cynicism, we pale in comparison to the special brood of vipers that essentially run the MCGOP. I began to learn of them 2 years ago when, after attending a bonafide sh1tshow of a meeting of MCGOP folks, a packed room that was absolutely seething with animosity. My later observations placed the responsibility for this hot mess squarely on the shoulders where it rightly belonged: then-Chair Shawn Tornow. And not because of all the history of secrecy and shenanigans associated with his tenure, though those factors do matter, but simply because he was the Leader. If you want to sit in the Chair, then you naturally take responsibility for the function & dysfunction of that group.

Similar to being a husband.

1 Corinthians 11:3 (NIV): “But I want you to realize that the head of every man is Christ, and the head of the woman is man, and the head of Christ is God.”

Ephesians 5:23 (NIV): “For the husband is the head of the wife as Christ is the head of the church, his body, of which he is the Savior.”

Leadership is HEADSHIP.

Leaders bring people together for common cause, not breed infighting then act befuddled by it all.

I soon discovered that I had made myself an enemy of what has become known as the “flying monkeys”, a callback to the Wizard of Oz. These are the support troops that will swoop into action to attack anyone who dares criticize a fellow monkey. I don’t mean to be insulting to these individuals. It’s just an analogy.

About a year ago I wrote an article in which I called out Tornow’s hand picked replacement Korry Peterson as an “operative”, by which I meant that I believed he was operating under a false objective - Unity - while harboring questionable motives. This was admittedly a speculative theory, assembled with a large amount of input from trusted sources all over the spectrum of SD politics, including veteran observers and office holders.

Believe it or not, I truly wish I had been wrong a year ago, in my assessment. I don’t have any personal animus towards anyone involved. I wish the Republican party in Minnehaha County, the largest in the state, was in a healthy state, focused on shared goals, transparent in its dealings, overflowing with goodwill and donations.

But that’s not where we’re at right now. The dinner last Saturday, what is the essentially the most important event of the year for the MCGOP, had around 100 people in attendance. A typical Alpha Center dinner and Call to Freedom breakfast (which happens at 6:45 am, waaay to early for breakfast) will see 5-10 TIMES as many people show up and donate money. I mean. wouldn’t it be better if a lot more non-politicians showed up to this event, and interacted with their electeds? Shouldn’t that be the goal? We must judge a tree by its fruits.

At one point in the evening last Saturday, the Chair got up and cracked some jokes, and actually made a very poignant statement:

“In South Dakota, Republicans have done such a good job running the Democrats out of the state that we all just fught each other now”.

I kinda felt sorry for him at that moment. If I didn’t know better, if I didn’t know about a lot of the gory details of why there is so much division & chaos in that group, I might have felt some sympathy for a guy who is doing his best to bring people together to help fellow republicans run for office. He put on a good show, but it was just a show, sadly. A true leader builds bridges, not burns them.

The main reason I wanted to write about this topic wasn’t to be critical of any particular individual, or group of people. And I certainly don’t want to delve into all the drama of the MCGOP of the past several years. The past is a graveyard of landmines. I only care about the future, finding solutions to what is clearly a problem. Some have said that the only solution to the MCGOP mess is to somehow get a whole new group of people to take over, but I’m not so sure. First off, it is no easy thing to just “find people” who are willing to spend that much time and energy in these endeavors. Say what you want about these folks, but the fact is they devote a lot of effort into this enterprise, for whatever it’s worth.

On the other hand, we do need new people. We need to become new people. Each and every one of us.

2 Corinthians 5:17 (ESV): “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.”

IMAGINE!

The only way to heal the divide in the grassroots is repentance, and obedience to Jesus’ 2nd command to Love your neighbor.

“Love does no harm to a neighbor. Therefore love is the fulfillment of the law.” - ROMANS 13:10

Jesus said unto him, “Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.” MARK 12:37-40

Imagine for a moment if everyone in politics operated with the understanding that this wasn’t a suggestion put forth by the Creator of the universe. It was a commandment. Imagine if every lawmaker at every level of government lived in fearful obedience to these 2 commandments.

But, some would ask: shouldn’t we keep religion out of politics?

“There is not a square inch in the whole domain of our human existence over which Christ, who is Sovereign over all, does not cry, ‘Mine!’” - Abraham Kuyper

There, problems solved.