Chik-Fil-A: Hate the Hater, Love the Chicken, Eat More Beef?
Because this is quite possibly a post-Rapture world of driverless cars and whores of revelation, I was on the teevee last night with failed GOP presidential candidate and sharia-law-alarmist Rick Santorum.
The odd part of it all? We basically agreed on something: That government should not ban businesses based on the religiously informed beliefs of their owners.
On CNBC's Kudlow & Company, Santorum and I were discussing the current flap over Chik-fil-A CEO Dan Cathy's comments about gay marriage. The head of the successful and popular chicken chain says that his Christian beliefs dictate that marriage remain defined as between one man and one woman. A number of gay rights groups and others have called for boycotts of the chain and, as I noted earlier this year, a number of colleges blocked Chik-fil-A from opening up on their campuses. Chik-fil-A's nonprofit arm, the WinShape Foundation, has funded groups that sponsor pray-away-the-gay therapies to "heal" homosexuals.
Local politicians such as Mayor Thomas Menino of Boston have said they will block the chain from opening new stores and work to close the existing ones until the company's CEO changes his tune. That sort of threat of legal sanction is categorically different than any sort of customer-based boycott or peaceful demonstration since it uses the state's monopoly on force to impose its will. Santorum used the occasion to talk about the lack of tolerance for viewpoints that are contrary to liberal orthodoxy and, because this is what he does, ended up riffing on sharia law and boy if you think teh gays have it tough here get a load of Iran where they put 'em to death! Now that's intolerance for you!
As did host Larry Kudlow, I stressed that despite my disagreement with Dan Cathy's point of view, the best way to counter speech and positions you disagree with is through more speech and market actions. "As someone who believes absolutely in marriage equality," I said, "there is something absolutely, fundamentally wrong with politicians saying what businessess can set up shop in their cities and where." It's worth pointing out that Chik-fil-A doesn't refuse to serve gays or people who believe in gay marriage, nor do it refuse to hire them (a Chicago franchisee has held fundraisers for gay groups). Chik-fil-A can't be confused with segregated businesses in the Jim Crow South—many of which were forbidden by law to serve black and white customers on even terms.
In a very real way, this is almost a purely symbolic debate. I sympathize with gays and lesbians who are systematically discriminated against by the state (well, most states, including the feds), but I'm also troubled by politicizing every aspect of every waking moment. Lord knows that if we had to agree with the cook (however loosely defined) on every issue before we could sit down to eat, there'd never be another family meal in America.
And America, as Rick Santorum can and will tell you, is under attack from enemies within and without.
Watch the clip: