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Last week, Jim Hagedorn was the only Minnesota member of Congress to vote against removing statutes of Confederate leaders from the U.S. Capitol. These statutes honor men who renounced their U.S. citizenship and made war against our nation and its government.

My great-grandfather fought in the Civil War, serving in a Union cavalry unit out of Iowa. In the words of Lincoln, my ancestor was one of the many Union soldiers who fought to ensure that our nation, conceived in and dedicated to liberty, would endure. I am immensely proud of my great-grandfather’s service. I am also a military veteran. I served in Vietnam. I am proud of that service, and I love my country deeply.

Rep. Hagedorn asks us to honor men who tried to destroy our country. Men who fought and killed U.S. soldiers who were protecting our nation and Constitution. We have convicted people as traitors for doing far less than these Confederate leaders did. Yet, Rep. Hagedorn voted to preserve for them an esteemed place in our nation’s Capitol building.

I do not know if our congressman is merely ignorant of an important part of history, or admires traitors like Jefferson Davis. Either way, I am deeply disappointed.

Robert Emary

Worthington