Chicken Sandwiches, Cows, and Controversy – Nothing New at Chick-fil-A
By: Todd M. Schoenberger, @TMSchoenberger

The controversy surrounding the inventor of the chicken sandwich, Chick-fil-A, is nothing new.  The Atlanta-based restaurant chain is known for mixing religious beliefs and business; and doesn’t shy away from lighting a fire underneath its most prized asset: It’s customers.

The chain even closes its stores on Sunday, as a benefit to its employees so they have an opportunity to rest, and worship if they choose to do so.  The company’s website states it shares the decision to close on Sunday as much “practical as spiritual.”

The recent brouhaha in the media about CFA is regarding its President, Dan Cathy.  In a recent interview, Cathy noted how his company backs the traditional family unit, rather than same-sex marriages.

That’s it.  That’s all that was said.  But, evidently some people who enjoy the freedom of protest, do not enjoy the freedom of speech.  If Cathy’s opinion is that marriage is between a man and a woman, so be it.  It may not be your opinion, it certainly isn’t mine, but—seriously—who really cares.

As with any hot potato topic in an election year, desperate politicians are going to try and turn controversy to help them win votes and appear on the frontpage.  In cities such as Boston, Chicago, Philadelphia and San Francisco, high profile mayors are now issuing warnings to the Waffle Fry king of the southeast.

San Francisco Mayor Edwin M. Lee tweeted:

“Closest #ChickFilA to San Francisco is 40 miles away & I strongly recommend that they try not to come any closer.”

Seriously??  In this economy, you have a restaurant chain with a sterling reputation of providing excellent food and service, not to mention jobs, and you’re going to turn them away because the CEO has an opinion??  Who’s the arrogant jerk now??

The ironic part of government leaders taking a stand to incite protests and chaos against CFA is these fools wouldn’t be in these positions if it weren’t for the principles of freedom and democracy.  Yet, they choose to dismiss this by almost ordering Dan Cathy to keep his opinions to himself.

That’s ridiculous.

Chick-fil-A is a private company and has the right to say what it wants in the land of business.  If you don’t like the company’s products, mission, vision, or anything else—you have the right to NOT eat there.  That’s the beauty of America—the rights.

Now, we have threats of “kiss-ins” (which sound interesting, and probably a great ‘free’ promotion for CFA) and boycotts, which are hilarious.  Do you know what it’s like to tell your screaming kids they can’t get some nuggets, waffle fries and see a cow because of a so-called boycott??  Yeah, this isn’t going to be very effective.  The dummy suggesting the boycott is probably kid-less.

Moving forward, though, how about mayors and other irrelevant politicians keep their mouths shut when it comes to business.  Free enterprise is just that—free, and let’s try to keep it that way.