Of Chicken Sandwiches, Free Speech and Cheap Politicians

The people who run the fast food chain Chick-fil-A are serious Christians.  They close their 1,608 restaurants on Sundays even though they lose a huge amount of revenue doing so.  The President of Chick-fil-A has spoken out against gay marriage.  As a result Democrat politicians, who have as much understanding of freedom of speech as they do morality, have decided to punish a legal business.

First up was Thomas Menino, mayor of Boston, who sent an unintentionally hilarious letter to the president of the company.  This Boston Herald editorial noted the humor:

But which part of the First Amendment does Menino not understand? A business owner’s political or religious beliefs should not be a test for the worthiness of his or her application for a business license.

Chick-fil-A must follow all state and city laws. If the restaurant chain denied service to gay patrons or refused to hire gay employees, Menino’s outrage would be fitting. And the company should be held to its statement that it strives to “treat every person with honor, dignity and respect — regardless of their belief, race, creed, sexual orientation, or gender.” But beyond the fact that Chick-fil-A is closed on Sundays, the religious beliefs of the company’s top executive don’t appear to control its operations.

The situation was different when Northeastern University blocked a proposed Chick-fil-A amid student protests. In that case, a private institution made its own decision not to bring the company in as a vendor. But using the power of government to freeze the company out of a city sends a disturbing message to all businesses. If the mayor of a conservative town tried to keep out gay-friendly Starbucks or Apple, it would be an outrage.

Ironically, Menino is citing the specific location along the Freedom Trail as a reason to block Chick-fil-A. A city in which business owners must pass a political litmus test is the antithesis of what the Freedom Trail represents. History will render judgment on the views of Chick-fil-A executives. City Hall doesn’t have to.

Next up was Chicago’s mayor Rahm Emanuel, former Chief of Staff of President Obama.  Ben Shapiro at Breitbart gives us the details:

The unemployment rate in the city of Chicago is approximately 9.8 percent, well above the national average. Since Monday night, one 17-year-old boy has been shot and 13 others have been wounded in shootings across the city. And that’s just the most recent wave of shootings to plague the city – dozens more have been shot over the last few weeks.

And Mayor Rahm Emanuel is taking action: he’s banning Chick-Fil-A.

 The fast-food chicken restaurant has come under increasing fire from major Democratic politicians including Emanuel and Boston Mayor Thomas Menino, both of whom have pledged to keep the dreaded chain from poisoning the minds of their constituents. Said Emanuel: “They disrespect our fellow neighbors and residents. This would be a bad investment, since it would be empty.”

 What exactly did Chick-Fil-A do to “disrespect” its neighbors? The president of the company, Dan Cathy, gave an interview in which he stated, “We don’t claim to be a Christian business … [Christianity] is about a personal relationship. Companies are not lost or saved, but certainly individuals are. But as an organization we can operate on biblical principles. So that is what we claim to be.” And he added with regard to the company’s support of WinShape Foundation, “That morphed into a marriage program in conjunction with national marriage ministries.” Does the company support the traditional family? Said Cathy, “guilty as charged … We are very much supportive of the family – the biblical definition of the family unit ….”

Go here to read the rest.  Emanuel was right about one thing.  He said that Chick-fil-A does not comport with “Chicago values”.  As far as I can tell as a life long resident of Illinois, Chicago values as typified by Chicago politicians consist of extreme political corruption and the constant shakedown of businesses and individuals for graft.  No, I do not think that Chick-fil-A is on board with that.

Leftist Democrat politicians have absolutely no hesitation in attempting to use the power of the State to bludgeon individuals and businesses holding views contrary to their own.  These people are enemies of any concept of a free society, and the rest of us better wake up to what is going on in this nation quickly, or the only practical freedom we will possess is to nod our heads on cue for any cause that those politicians deem useful to support in order to gain votes.