Village People – Part 2

Continuing with my Village People metaphor, we come to Colton Kratky, the Democratic house candidate in 29B. I respect Colton. He listened to something I said and changed something about his campaign – something that I and others found offensive – and I respect that.

Colton is obviously the Cowboy of the Village People. He is from Texas, he wears a cowboy hat all the time, even while he’s eating supper. He is obviously the Village People cowboy.

Colton had all the appearances of a Christian nationalist. Christian nationalists believe that governance should be based on their idiosyncratic Christian principles, not on shared civic values and constitutional principles. This excludes most of us who do not share what many of us believe is a strange, bigoted, inauthentic, and self-satisfying notion of Christianity.

In earlier versions of his website, and in his campaign literature, Colton prominently emphasized that he is a Christian and follower of Christ Jesus. As marketing types would say, Christianity was his Main Value Proposition. He had a photo of him reading the Bible on his website, and his political platform consisted of Bible verses – for example, a Bible verse in which political accountability is likened to beating slaves.

To me, this is anti-Semitic and deeply problematic. It reeks of White Christian Nationalist Texas political messaging. The message I heard was “Vote for me because I’m the Christian. We don’t need any Jewish people (or Muslims) here.”

In the 1950s and 1960s, the Twin Cities were a hotbed of antisemitism. It was virulently antisemitic. Every other job posting in the newspapers in those days had a disclaimer to the effect that Jewish people need not apply. Jewish people were often excluded from hotels, restaurants and other public places. Most people don’t remember this. I do. So, when someone says, “Vote for me because I’m the Christian,” I hear the antisemitic dog whistle. Or the anti-Islamic dog whistle.

But Colton changed that reference on his website and I respect him for doing so. I hope he wins the election.

Hint: if anyone sees Colton, suggest to him that he consider upgrading his image somewhat. Colton is a former U.S. Marine (much respect) and he understands how inspirational the Marine dress blues uniform is to all of us. If Colton were to trim his beard, get a white cowboy hat that is sized and shaped to balance his face, and ditch his ubiquitous T shirt for a nice sport coat and shirt that fit properly (maybe even the occasional necktie), his appearance (which is part of a politician’s messaging) would inspire more people.

Emily Dahlgren is the Democratic nominee for house district 29A.  She is the native American chief of the Village People. I say this because I think her strength would be doing the work of actual governing, the way that chiefs are said to have done. (In fact, the notion of a “chief” is a notion that Europeans imposed on native Americans, it’s not the way tribes were governed.)

I’ve met Emily, had a brief conversation with her, and I find her to be kind and thoughtful. I think she would make a great representative in 29A. To win, she is going to need to overcome the red-meat message of the long-time incumbent who waves the new Minnesota flag as evidence of our cultural decline. (We are in decline, but it’s not a cultural decline, it is the decline of our democracy and its democratic institutions, largely because of neoliberalism.)