This is Chicken McNuggets in the birthing process.
Posted on 07/29/2012 7:28:49 PM PDT by nickcarraway
Boston Mayor Tom Menino wants to keep fast-food chain Chick-fil-A out of Boston because the company opposes same-sex marriage. Legally, Menino may in the wrong. Yet he is also completely in the right. The dustup has been portrayed as a First Amendment issue. In truth, it’s more about smart politics, mayoral power and — like it or not — Menino’s ability to make the city in his own vision.
Chick-fil-A founder Truett Cathy is reputed to have invented the chicken sandwich; his first Atlanta store in 1967 has grown to a multi-billion-dollar empire with over 1,600 outlets. Finding a Chick-fil-A in New England is tough, however. There are just three, and the chain is now looking to expand north.
From a gastronomical standpoint, Chick-fil-A is no big deal. (My bucket list includes sampling all major fast-food chains. McDonald’s Chicken sandwich is much better.) But what does make Chick-fil-A unique is the Bible Belt religiosity that suffuses all it does. The family-owned company says its “corporate purpose” is “to glorify God by being a faithful steward of all that is entrusted to us.” Each of its stores is shut on Sundays. And the company spends much time advancing its spiritual philosophy. Some of those causes, such as promoting foster care, are widely praised. Others, including preserving “the biblical definition of the family unit,” have raised hackles, including Menino’s.
On July 20, the mayor sent a blunt letter to Chick-fil-A decrying its anti-gay stance and telling it to “back out of your plans to locate in Boston.” Both the left and the right have assailed him for this, seeing it as an attack on free speech. Where does this end, they ask? Will the city now stop someone from opening a store because he’s, say, a Yankees fan?
Except, of course, that Menino isn’t suggesting that such foolish reasons should factor in deciding the businesses Boston welcomes. He’s talking about something much more serious, a basic civil right (one, admittedly, not all agree with). Put in a different context, if Chick-fil-A supported a return to the days of Jim Crow, my guess is a lot of folks now lambasting Menino would react differently.
Then too, while the First Amendment prohibits government from censoring speech, it doesn’t make one immune from the consequences of those remarks. Leominster, for instance, just fired a cop who targeted Red Sox outfielder Carl Crawford with a racial epithet. The slur was protected by the First Amendment, but racists shouldn’t be on the police force, either. The same with Chick-fil-A. It can say what it wants. But those words do have meaning, and they cause many to worry how they translate into action. Will Chick-fil-A treat married gay employees the same as married straight employees? The way the company deeply intertwines business and religion raises a reasonable doubt.
But all of these are legal niceties, irrelevant from the viewpoint of a politician like Menino. His attack on Chick-fil-A is, instead, an illustration of the effective use of power, something the mayor learned long ago. As acting mayor in 1993, he imposed a freeze on water and sewer rates. His opponents mocked him, noting mayors don’t control an independent agency. The laugh was on them — not only were residents grateful that someone was at least trying to do something, but he also got his way. The bully pulpit has power; the hikes were deferred.
So too, last year Menino was ridiculed for his efforts to get Niketown to remove profane T-shirts from its windows. Would the city have won if it went to court? Probably not. But they were removed anyway.
And to what end is this power used? A hallmark of Menino’s tenure has been his effort to remake Boston’s image from a backward place of small-minded bigotry into a modern city that is inclusive, diverse, and civil. If that means lashing out at companies such as Chick-fil-A, so be it. Were Chick-fil-A to sue (unlikely, since the mayor has clarified he wouldn’t hold up permits over the issue), odds are Menino would lose in a court of law. But in the court of public opinion — 19 years and counting — he’s winning.
The writer is an idiot. Cathy said that his businesses hire all kinds of people and that they serve all kinds of people without any discrimination.
Haven’t heard any civil rights discrimination complaints against Chick-Fil-A. They must be doing something right, as in providing a good product/service and providing jobs for tens of thousands of hard-working citizens.
Oh, I forgot. It is against the Obama creed to be successful in business (oh you 1%ers), to give people work instead of welfare-addicting checks, and to actually have a moral basis of life.
Tom: Welcome to Germany, 1933. Turn right at Nuremberg and stay there. There’s an edict awaiting for your signature.
“I bet his teen unemploment is over 50% real smart costing all those jobs.”
Liberals feel good while biting of their nose to spite their face.
Banning Chickfla because of the political stands of it’s owner by BANNING him from an entire city is the move of an intellectually bankrupt, nannystate bitchboy wannabe tyrant whore that sold their asses to the militant left. Like Bloomberg.Like a pouting child.
Both need a humiliating public slapdown by an ordinary American on camera.Both need to be reminded their little tantrum will not prevent CHickfla from reaching it’s 45th straight year of growth.Growth in the world of having to work a real job and actually produce something, like a grown man should.
There's one in the Pheasant Lane Mall, which is right over the Massachusetts border.
Every August, in recent years in an effort to boost its economy, Massachusetts has declared sales tax holiday weekends in August.
I find these Massachusetts holidays to be ideal times to shop in New Hampshire, which does not have a general sales tax, because the crowds are lower, due to the Massachusetts holiday.
This is Chicken McNuggets in the birthing process.
Sounds like CFA is garnering far more support than it`s losing over this manufactured “controversy.” Boycotts have a tendency to fail...and this one will too.
Boston, NYC, LA just swirling away.
Chicago, too. Those liberal-dominated ratholes can all go the way of Detroit, for all I care.
CFA is good eats!
And I`ll bet it`s not halal, either.
Yep... or was Obama lying, as usual.
SO true!
Haven’t had White Castle hamburgers, but I hear they are great!
Exactly!
This from someone who also thinks Obama's economic strategy is a winner.
Thanks for posting but I can’t read it all. Its propaganda.
As for my family, all 20 of us will bne dining at CF Wednesday evening.
Translation: Menino aims to transform Boston into a place where straight white middle class people are not welcome. The straight, white demographic should take notice in the next election.
That’s unfortunate. The chances of me ever going to Nashua for anything are somewhere between slim, fat and none.
So Mayor Menino wants to make the city ‘in his own vision’? I guess he wants Boston to be a place that denies people who don’t agree with the Mayor’s ideas the right to express their opinions. Folks who think differently from Menino are gonna be ‘banned in Boston’.
Yeah, Boston wants diversity, but only if it meets the 'standards' of liberals.
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