Minnesota’s Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party is now pushing legislation to punish cities that refuse to fly the state’s redesigned flag — the one that looks like it was copied off Somalia’s homework. Governor Tim Walz and his allies in the legislature want penalties for any city flying a flag “other than the design of the state flag as certified” by the State Emblems Redesign Commission. Because nothing says “Land of 10,000 Lakes” like threatening your own mayors.
When your state flag needs a “spot the difference” quiz against a foreign country’s flag, maybe — just maybe — the 13-member commission that designed it screwed up.
The Gateway Pundit first reported the resemblance back in December 2023, when the new design was unveiled. Critics immediately noticed that the flag bore a conspicuous resemblance to the flag of Somalia — and, even more awkwardly, to the flag of the Jubaland state of Somalia. The old flag, which had served the state since the 1980s, was scrapped by the legislature in 2023 when they created the redesign commission. Nobody asked the people of Minnesota if they wanted a new flag. The commission just handed them one.
Champlin Mayor Ryan Sabas isn’t having it. His city voted back in February to fly the original Minnesota flag, and the backlash from constituents was overwhelming — in the right direction.
“In my nearly 10 years of being on the city council in Champlin and going on four years as mayor of this town, I have never heard from more people on any one issue than I did about the Minnesota state flag,” Sabas said.
Let that sink in. Not taxes. Not crime. Not schools. The flag.
Sabas called the DFL’s penalty bill exactly what it is: “It’s just an absolutely ridiculous bill that Democrats are signing on to.” And he’s not the only mayor pushing back. Multiple city leaders across the state are refusing to display the redesigned banner, and now the DFL’s response isn’t to reconsider the design — it’s to force compliance.
This is the same Tim Walz, by the way, who couldn’t manage to stop Minneapolis from burning in 2020 but now has plenty of energy to police which flag hangs outside City Hall in Champlin. Priorities.
The whole controversy has gone viral, and for good reason. Americans can see what’s happening. A state legislature created an unelected commission, that commission produced a flag that looks like it belongs to a different country, and now the state government wants to punish anyone who points it out.
Here’s a thought for Governor Walz and his DFL buddies: if you have to pass a law forcing people to fly your flag, your flag stinks. The original flag didn’t need a mandate. People flew it because they were proud of it. When you have to threaten fines to get compliance, you haven’t designed a symbol — you’ve issued a decree.
The mayors standing up to this nonsense are doing exactly what elected officials are supposed to do: listening to their constituents. And the constituents of Minnesota have spoken loud and clear — they don’t want to fly Somalia’s flag.