Pardon me if I was the last person to hear about this, but I was glad over the weekend to read that Governor Mary Fallin refuses to remove the Ten Commandments from the Oklahoma capitol, despite some crazy court insisting otherwise.

She explained her decision by saying “Oklahoma is a state where we respect the rule of law, and we will not ignore the state courts or their decisions. However, we are also a state with three co-equal branches of government.”

Attorney General Scott Pruitt went further by explaining “Quite simply, the Oklahoma Supreme Court got it wrong. The court completely ignored the profound historical impact of the Ten Commandments on the foundation of Western Law.”

Meanwhile, the states are starting to protect religious liberties against extremists trying to wedge Christians out of the public square using the activist Obergefell Supreme Court decision.

Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton has instructed the counties of his state that they “may allow accommodation of religious objections” of government employees, whom radical activists are attempting to bully into participating in homosexual “marriage” proceedings, something never voted for or supported by the people of Texas.

Kentucky clerks are going even further, and refusing to issue homosexual “marriage” licenses entirely.

Notice that in every case here, it is state and local government that Americans are relying upon to protect them from activist courts, and fringe nuts attacking religious freedom. This is how it must be. Our federalist system has checks and balances that cut both ways: the national government protects us from runaway states, and states protect us from a runaway national government. Further, courts protect us from runaway executives and legislatures, while legislatures and executives protect us from runaway courts.

This is precisely the kind of backbone I wrote about before. When the courts are wrong, and the courts threaten our liberties, someone must act.

Since Marbury v Madison, the courts in this country have taken a power that the Constitution does not actually give to them. By being even handed and apolitical – that original Judicial Review case in fact ruled in favor of the “party” in opposition to the Federalists that appointed the members of the court – the Supreme Court built respect for giving it the role of referee. But now the courts are going far beyond a fair interpretation of the texts before it. Even Republican-appointed judges like John Roberts and Anthony Kennedy are unmoored from anything but their own whims.

It is because the courts have abused the power we tacitly gave them, that our elected officials must reel it in. If we want that to happen, we need to elect officials who will stand up for us. Conservatives must give just as much attention to our state governments, ensuring statewide officials, as well as our state legislators, get just as much scrutiny as our Presidential and Congressional candidates get.

Who are your state legislators? Are they more like [mc_name name=’Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX)’ chamber=’senate’ mcid=’C001098′ ] or [mc_name name=’Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-KY)’ chamber=’senate’ mcid=’M000355′ ]? Who’s your state house Speaker? Is he more like [mc_name name=’Rep. Jim Jordan (R-OH)’ chamber=’house’ mcid=’J000289′ ] or [mc_name name=’Rep. John Boehner (R-OH)’ chamber=’house’ mcid=’B000589′ ]? Who are the likely candidates for Governor in your state? Are they more like Mary Fallin or John Kasich?

What will you do about it?