Chick-fil-a banned in Boston? “This is how fascism works.” UPDATE: Now Chicago.

When the news first came out that the Mayor of Boston wanted to ban Chick-fil-a from his fair city because CEO Dan Cathy refused to toe the politically correct line on gay marriage, I did not pay much attention to be honest.  I figured lib cities on the coasts do silly things, and this was just another silly thing.

But as I have reflected on it, I have become alarmed.  For governments discriminating against people and their businesses simply for openly holding traditional conservative views is reason for alarm.  Do we really think it will stop with Boston?  Or with the issue of gay marriage for that matter?

Now if individual Bostonians, or Lisa Henson for that matter, want to be jerks and boycott Chick-fil-a for political incorrectness, that is their right.  Others of us will in turn give the chain more business.  Heck, I love their sandwiches, waffle fries, and lemonade.  Annoying the Left will just make my meal more delicious.

But for a government to bully a business over religious or political views?

The Anchoress puts it very well:

If people are no longer entitled to their own opinions, or to think what they think, then we are not free people, at all. Period. Full stop. That’s a fundamental as it gets.

Further she says what the Mayor of Boston is doing “reeks of fascism.” And I completely agree.  Yet there are plenty of people cheering him on.

When Jonah Goldberg came out with his book Liberal Fascism, both the title and the thesis seemed a bit over the top.  But people of the Left even in the United States are acting more like fascists all the time.  The Nazis boycotted the businesses of Jewish people.  Many on the Left apparently want to imitate that episode and, with the support of government, boycott the businesses of conservative Christians.

Whatever happened to “tolerance”?  Methinks that word has been used and abused as a euphemism for crushing those who disagree with political correctness.

But then fascists always have had a talent for euphemisms.
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MORE: I should have noted that the quote in my post title comes from The Anchoress herself.  Again, I commend her post to you.

UPDATE: Now Chicago is going fascist, too.  An alderman will attempt to block a permit to open a Chick-fil-a in the 1^st Ward.  He has the support of Mayor Rahm Emanuel, who said in a statement, “Chick-fil-A values are not Chicago values.”

You got that right, fascist.