Mail bag

Election Integrity

All Minnesota residents need to realize the truth concerning the true cost of renewable energy, from construction to decommissioning.

I really appreciated Mollie Hemingway’s article on the importance of election integrity (which I believe every citizen desires for our country!).

Gwen Benson
Houston, MN

Unpacking Kersten

It’s time to unpack Katherine Kersten’s most recent screenplay pitch, “Weaponizing History: How a small cadre of political radicals is hijacking the mission of the Minnesota Historical Society.”

The logline of Kersten’s fictional work is “The untold story of how a small, committed cadre of activists have commandeered MNHS’s resources and prestige to make it the vehicle of a destructive, self-serving political agenda.” One component of this agenda is decolonization. In Kersten’s view, this “ideology” has Marxist roots, a genetic fallacy that implies that whatever “decolonization” is, it must be bad.

One specific vehicle of destruction is the Minnesota Historical Society’s publication Mni Sota Makoce: The Land of the Dakota.

Kersten claims the book “rewrites history in fundamental ways, all vigorously disputed by independent Minnesota historians.” She debunks numerous historical claims in the book on the basis that they are supported by, “contemporary, undocumented, ‘oral tradition.’” For Kersten, the fact that her history didn’t bother to record the history of the Dakota people means that history is invalid. Her black-or-white fallacy only proves the adage: history is written by the victors.

Mni Sota Makoce: The Land of the Dakota, like any history, is open to critical review. Had this been the author’s purpose, the reader might have learned something valuable. Unfortunately, Kersten’s rhetorical biases and fallacies are more suited to fiction than reasoned debate.

Tom Brandt
Blaine, MN

Why Trump?

There are many articles I was glad to see in the new Thinking Minnesota issue, but I am wondering why the picture of former president Trump with a large firearm was pictured. I was so disappointed when Donald Trump was chosen to represent the Republican Party. Someone chosen to be a leader of a country that has been known for its dedication to liberty and honor should be a role model for using liberty to promote honorable values. I am not against the right for people to own guns, but that picture presents an image of a terrorist. Why show anyone from our party in such a light?

Trudy Madetzke
Marshall, MN

Watch The ACLU

I am writing in response to your article in the latest issue of Thinking Minnesota in which you suggest that some charitable organizations have fallen away from their original founding principles.

One egregious example is the effort of the American Civil Liberties Union to broker a reward in the amount of $450,000 for each child and adult who crossed our border with Mexico illegally.

It is helpful to review the original ideals and principles that governed this group, including defending the right of a pro-Nazi group to stage a march in the streets of Skokie, Illinois, a town with a large Jewish population.

Contrast that with current ACLU attorney Chase Strange who advocated for the suppression of the well-known author Abigail Shrier’s book, Irreversible Damage, in which she raises the alarm about the sudden onset of the transgender movement especially among young girls. It may be that things have been too good and we have forgotten the ideals of free expression. We have cancel culture and revisionist history.

I agree there needs to be more accountability of corporate giving and the efforts of non-profits for the benefit of our society.

—Jerry Hall

reTHUGlican politicians???

Impressive, except that you left out the fact that America wouldn’t be experiencing inflation if your fat, orange Hitler hadn’t lied about COVID-19 and bungled his response with no thought to protect Americans from this deadly virus as he became a super-spreader himself.

Why must Democrats always have to clean up the disasters left by incompetent/evil reTHUGlican politicians???

—Peggy Lubozynski