Saturday, July 28, 2012

I Just Want a Chicken Sammich

I fly to Boston 6-8 times a year on business. Jet Blue has the best service between Richmond and Boston. Direct flights, new airplanes, personal in-flight TV's, and very good prices.Jet Blue is my first choice when I fly to Boston.

It is my bet that Jet Blue CEO David Barger is a pretty liberal guy. My bet is that he and I would disagree on many issues. It is a fact that Jet Blue sponsored a convention held by the radical fringe web site "The Daily Kos". I disagree with a great deal of the garbage posted on The Daily Kos. Any idea how much this has impacted my willingness to fly Jet Blue? If you answered "none" please move to the head of the class.

Now here comes Dan Cathy, the president of Chick-Fil-A. I don't know a whole lot about Dan. I know that I love his company's product. I don't agree with his statement that he believes in a "bibilical interpration of marriage", but I also don't have an idealogical litmus test for the leadership of businesses I patronize. I find it sad and pathetic that nitwits like Thomas Menino, the mayor of Boston or Chicago mayor Rahm Emanuel want to keep Chick-Fil-A out of their cities because they don't like the company president's definition of marriage. Really? Do they check the politcal philosophies of all the business owners in their cities? Are catholic-owned businesses who are adamently pro-life as unwelcome as Chick-Fil-A in Boston? When the mayorship turns over do we review what businesses can and which ones cannot stay in Chicago based on their views on tax policy? When did politcal alignment with state and local government leadership become a prerequisite to doing business in a locality? I wonder if folks who don't have a job in Boston and Chicago care about Dan Cathy's view's on marriage?

It is a little annoying to me when folks like Thomas Menino and Rahm Emanuel talk about protecting the freedoms and rights of "the people" when in reality, they only mean the the people with whom they agree politcally. If they don't want to eat Chick-Fil-A sandwiches because they don't like the politics of the company executives, have at it (As a big fan of the Chick-Fil-A sandwich, I can tell you they are on the losing end of that bargain) but they have no standing to keep Chick-Fil-A from opening businesses in their cities.What are they afraid of, it's just a chicken sammich? How can they possibly defend such a position with any modicum of credibility? Chick-Fil-A has a track record of stewardship and is operating with the bounds of the law. However they are not going to be allowed to operate in Boston or Chicago because of Dan Cathy's definition of marriage? Have we really stooped to this level of silliness?

I am going to fly Jet Blue and I will carry on an order of Chick-Fil-A chicken minnies to have on the way. Politics is already too intrusive on my life. I don't need it interfering with my decision to fly an airline that provides great service at a great price and chicken sandwiches that are more than delicious. If Thomas Menino and Rahm Emanuel would get off their high horses for a minute, they would see the folly of their positions.

5 comments:

Eric D. said...

Though I don't cotton to Chick-fil-A's corporate funding of hate groups, you're right - let the market decide.

That said, I have to smile at your characterization of Daily Kos as "radical fringe." Liberal, yes, but radical fringe? That would seem to put you somewhere between Rush Limbaugh and Attila the Hun...

David Rayner said...

Sometimes you have to go for effect, but some of the comments posted on the DK are pretty ugly. I don't think Rush would like all my ideas, but that's no worry for me.

Anonymous said...

Eric, please clue me in on the "hate groups " that Chic fil a funds. Be specific please.

Eric D said...

http://thinkprogress.org/lgbt/2012/07/02/509982/chick-fil-a-gave-2-million-to-anti-gay-groups-in-2010/

Anonymous said...

I don't think they are hate groups, the Kos is a hate group.