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, its more about smart politics, mayoral power and like it or not Meninos 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. McDonalds 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 Meninos.
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 hes, say, a Yankees fan?
Except, of course, that Menino isnt suggesting that such foolish reasons should factor in deciding the businesses Boston welcomes. Hes 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 doesnt 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 shouldnt 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 dont 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 Meninos tenure has been his effort to remake Bostons 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 wouldnt 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 hes winning.
You would have made a good Nazi.
Screw Boston and their moronic mayor. Same with Chitcago. I’ll never set foot in either place again if I can help it.
Are there any Chick Fil As in New Hampshire?
I would love to see the polls that show he’s winning in the court of public opinion in attacking Chick Fill A. Anecdotal evidence is that many liberals are against his actions. Only the angry left/ lunatic fringe left is solidly behind him.
The issue isn’t homosexual marriage as such, the issue is setting a standard that you have to be liberal to run a business in Boston. If you do not pass the thought police test on homosexual marriage, the threat was that you would be denied business license and zoning approvals to run a business. Perhaps the writers of this article think the bully pulpit is okay for that, but from what I hear, even many mainstream liberals are shocked at his actions and statements.
” 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, its more about smart politics, mayoral power and like it or not Meninos ability to make the city in his own vision.”
“Legally MAY”
“Also COMPLETELY in the RIGHT”
“SMART POLITICS”
And there you have it, folks. A nice summation of what is wrong with American politics, in particular, today’s Democrats. “Legally” doesn’t matter. But “smart politics” does. And what’s “right” to those “smart politicians” is what it’s all about. Their careers, their assets, their “legacy”
The Framers were smart guys, to see thru all this BS centuries ago. Yet the 1/2 of the electorate just keeps on electing and re-electing these self-centered bastards who’s only concern is themselves.
Meanwhile, formerly great cities like Boston, NYC, LA just swirling away. Wake up, idiots.
Was Obama a vistor to Boston in the last 4 years, when he shared the same opinion?
If the idiot thought he was winning, he wouldn’t have backed down. I try not to hate people, but sometimes the leftists make it very difficult.
I am completely fed up with them telling me that what is sick and perverted is natural and normal and something to be proud of. IT ISN’T!!!
I bet his teen unemploment is over 50% real smart costing all those jobs.
Butcha CF sees their profits go up over the next few months...
It’s much better just to laugh at this fool:
http://www.mumblesmenino.us/mumbling.htm
Cathy should sue this left wing lowlife thug in federal court for violating his civil rights. He is a wealthy man and probably does not want the aggravation. He also has a business and employees to protect. However this type of intimidation must be stopped.
Well, I am not positive about too many things, but anyone who thinks McD’s chicken sandwich is “much better” than CFA’s is a fool. The quality of the two sandwiches is not even close.
I guess there is no accounting for taste.
ROTFL!!! Bostonians are going to love that! A bunch of small-minded bigots.
The show bought a bunch, and had a lackey, in a chicken suit, handing them out in front of Boston City Hall.
A cop came out, and gave the lackey personal grief for not finding a less embarrassing way to make a living other than in a chicken suit, but didn't hassle them otherwise.
Because “remaking” a society in this way has always worked out so very well...
There will continually be strikes, one after another, by the Trades....carpenters, concrete guys, plumbers, Iron Workers, glaziers, delivery trucks etc,etc,etc,etc.
If they ever get built, they can expect a weekly visit by the fire inspectors, health dept, EEOC, , etc, etc, etc,
Then, the city will put up a bus stop, no parking signs, no standing signs, no-right-turn and no-left-turn signs all around the stores to preclude parking or turning into the lots. The city's gangs will be given easy sentences for crimes in exchange for breaking windows and spray painting gang-shit on the buildings.
Ah...life is good in communist-run cities.
Only in the Pheasant Lane Mall in Nashua.
Translation: If the mayor can’t get what liberals want legally, he should resort to bullying. OTOH, if a conservative mayor employed the same tactic, they would scream bloody murder about the usurping of constitutional government. The ends justify the means.
It’s strange how those that scream for tolerance are so intolerant. Why it’s kind of perverted, isn’t it?
Nashua in the Phesant Lane Mall on DWH
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