The Left Has No Principles

What I mean by that title is that the Left is purely agenda driven, with no underlying principles that motivate them. Last Spring, Rider University in New Jersey had the students vote on a new eatery for the campus. Chick-fil-A won. But come the fall, the school administration vetoed the students' decision and called for a new vote - this time without Chick-fil-A being one of the permissible choices. The reason? The company's perceived "opposition to the LGBTQ+ community." There was no claim of discrimination in hiring or service. While Rider is a private institution, it does receive public funding.

Recently, the San Antonio City Council voted to bar Chick-fil-A from the City's International airport. Said one council member: "San Antonio is a city full of compassion. We do not have room in our public facilities for a business with a legacy of anti-LGBTQ behavior." What behavior? This movement against Chick-fil-A began when the owner expressed his personal belief that marriage is a union of one man and one woman. The company has also donated money to the Fellowship of Christian Athletes, which also defines marriage as one man and one woman.

The Buffalo Niagara International Airport will also not be hosting a Chick-fil-A. It seems that the company that provides the concession stands at the airport rejected Chick-fil-A's presence after a State Assembly Member said that the company's mere existence at the airport would "help spread hate and discrimination," and opposed the company making money which would be used to "fund continued divisive anti-LGBTQ rhetoric."

In my 8/2/12 post ("Why I Am No Longer a Democrat") I discussed how the Democratic Mayor's of Chicago, San Francisco, Boston and Washington, D.C. all opposed the presence of new Chick-fil-A outlets. In my 5/8/16 post ("The Undoing of America") I discussed the similar anti-Chick-fil-A sentiment expressed by the New York City Mayor.

According to one site, Chick-fil-A has over 2200 restaurants and has over 23,000 employees. The founder of the company decided that the stores would be closed on Sundays in order to allow himself and his employees to "set aside one day to rest and worship if they choose." Thankfully, the Attorney General of Texas will be investigating whether the decision by San Antonio "violated Chick-fil-A's religious liberty." And, I would add, the owner's First Amendment speech rights. The AG is also asking the Feds to investigate. Good for him!

Frankly, I am outraged by the decisions of the Rider administrators and these airports. I am outraged by these big city mayors. And I am outraged that even public officials do not see the damage they are doing to our freedoms. No, the Left will tell you that Trump is destroying our democracy. But the Left does not see it. They do not see the underlying principle of protecting the First Amendment rights of speech and the free exercise of religion. Rather, because their agenda is "gay rights" that takes precedence over fundamental principles. I have no problem with supporting the LGBTQ community. I do have a problem when that support supersedes basic rights. Let's be honest - gay marriage is here, it is legal, and it is not going away. But, apparently, the First Amendment is going away.

But now that I know that it is permissible to have a political litmus test for the right to do business, I propose that all conservatives unite for the following. When we walk into a restaurant that has CNN or MSNBC on their TVs, we should insist that they switch to Fox News. If they refuse, we should explain that we are leaving and will not return until they either put on Fox an equal amount of time or just put on sports and no news stations. Better yet, we should ask any and all small business owners if they voted for Clinton or Trump; and research big businesses to see if they donate politically, and if so, do they at least give equal sums to conservative and Republican groups as they do to Left and Democratic groups.

The Chick-fil-A saga is not the only example of the Left's lack of principles. There are many such examples. We regularly see conservative speakers denied a forum on college campuses because the First Amendment does not protect speech at the universities. It's not part of the Left's agenda. Similarly, we hear from conservatives in Hollywood that they are afraid to be public about their beliefs in the same way that the Leftists are able to. Conservatives fear being blacklisted for their beliefs. Imagine that - the Hollywood crowd which experienced the wrath of Joseph McCarthy - now uses the same tactics against the conservatives in their midst. Of course, if those Leftists in Hollywood had any principles, they would know better.

Welcome to the Left's America.