Tuesday, August 07, 2012
The Democratic mayors of Boston, Chicago, San Francisco,
and Washington, D.C. gave Mitt Romney and the Republican Party the greatest
gift possible. They provided the American people with as clear an example of
the unbridgeable differences between left and right, between Democrat and
Republican, as could be hoped for.
And it was largely wasted.
The Democratic mayors of Boston, Chicago, San Francisco,
and Washington, D.C. announced that Chick-fil-A is not welcome in their cities
because the owner/founder of Chick-fil-A supports preserving the man-woman
definition of marriage.
Aside from free speech issues, the mayors did something
dangerously un-American: they declared their cities open only to businesses
whose ownership holds political positions they approve of.
And by extension, these mayors declared that anyone --
not just a business -- who believes that the man-woman definition of marriage
should not be changed is not welcome in their cities.
What we have here is, first, the current policy of the
mainstream left and the Democratic Party to destroy ideological opponents -- to
destroy their reputations and to destroy them economically. The left tried to
do this to those who supported California's Proposition 8 campaign to amend the
state constitution to define marriage as the union of a man and a woman. Prop.
8 was smearingly re-named "Prop. Hate," and all those who wish to
maintain that definition of marriage were, and are, declared haters. The left
is actually incapable of regarding ideological opponents as well-meaning.
What should Mitt Romney have done with this gift?
He should have used the Chick-fil-A controversy to
illuminate the most important aspect of this November's election: the difference
between the left and the rest of the country.
Romney should have shown up at a Chick-fil-A restaurant
to support that company, ordered a Chick-fil-A sandwich and -- here's the key
-- eaten it along with a Ben & Jerry's ice cream.
The photo of Romney eating both a Chick-fil-A sandwich
and Ben & Jerry's ice cream would be worth far more than the proverbial
thousand words. Nearly every American who watches television news, or reads a
newspaper, or gets the news online would have seen the picture and gotten the
message.
The picture would make clear to the least political
American the difference between Republicans and Democrats, between
conservatives and progressives.
In total contradistinction to the Democrats and the left,
Mitt Romney would be seen eating food produced by one of the most left-wing
companies in America. Ben & Jerry's has supported -- either monetarily or
through statements made by one or both of the founders -- major left-wing
causes, from the radical Occupy movement to the even more radical movement to
free convicted cop killer Mumia Abu-Jamal.
Romney's message would be that in America, with rare
exceptions (such as, for example, a Nazi- or KKK-owned company), we buy
products based on their excellence, not the views of their makers. Do we really
want supermarkets with sections for liberal ice cream, conservative ice cream,
libertarian ice cream, atheist ice cream, etc.?
Conservatives buy products produced by companies run by
outspoken leftists; leftists try to destroy companies that take conservative
positions. That is one message Mitt Romney eating a Ben & Jerry's ice cream
at a Chick-fil-A restaurant would convey.
Another is that Republicans believe first and foremost in
liberty. Ben and Jerry take far left positions, but in America, Republicans
believe that you should be free to take whatever position you like without
fearing that your business will be destroyed. Democrats, on the other hand,
like the left worldwide, believe that other values -- their understanding of
fairness, of equality, of social justice, you name it -- trump liberty.
A third message would be to demonstrate that the left is
the greatest source of hate in this country. In one of its many acts of
projection, the left accuses the right of hate because the left has done only
one thing superbly for the last half century: demonize the right. The latest
example is the labeling of every American who believes that marriage should be
defined as it always has been, the union of a man and a woman, as a bigot and a
hater of gays.
(Of course, the left never labeled Barack Obama or the
majority of black Americans and Muslims who believe in the man-woman definition
of marriage "haters." The label is specifically directed at white
Christians and Mormons who oppose same-sex marriage - proving its insincerity
and its political motivation.)
Finally, while enjoying his Chick-fil-A and Ben &
Jerry's, Romney could have noted that any American who believes that marriage
should not be redefined is not welcome in Chicago, San Francisco, Boston, and
Washington, D.C. It is time to shame the left.
Mitt Romney must run against leftism and the contemporary
Democratic Party, not only against Barack Obama. The president is a leftist.
That is the reason this country is in trouble.
The Chick-fil-A controversy is a perfect way to explain
all this to the American people. All Mitt Romney needs to do is enjoy a certain
brand of chicken and a certain brand of ice cream.
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