{"id":1262,"date":"2012-08-01T14:48:26","date_gmt":"2012-08-01T20:48:26","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.returningking.com\/?p=1262"},"modified":"2012-08-01T14:48:26","modified_gmt":"2012-08-01T20:48:26","slug":"fighting-bigotry-with-bigotry","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/returningking.com\/?p=1262","title":{"rendered":"Fighting ‘Bigotry’ with Bigotry"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/span>The American system of public discourse and representative government is not hard to grasp.\u00a0 We are \u201cthe melting pot\u201d where people from every race, creed and background are welcomed to bring their best to the table.\u00a0 Governing that table are representatives duly elected to uphold the will of the collective population from within the framework of an overshadowing constitutional standard.\u00a0 From within that standard these representatives are charged with the task of establishing the law of the people, by the people and for the people.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

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In such a system several things are inherently necessary.\u00a0 Among them is that the people have a voice and the freedom do express it fully.\u00a0 \u00a0Without such a voice, representatives govern without direction and pursue their personalized visions for the country.\u00a0 Ability to express our collective voices has been assured in the First Amendment and in just about every state by written mandate.\u00a0 After all, every seat of local, state and federal governments in our nation is democratically elected and representative in nature.\u00a0 People simply must<\/em> be allowed to express their political opinions for such a system to work. <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

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At issue in the nation today is the variance between the mandate and the actions of our elected officials.\u00a0 Case in point is the rash of recent government sponsored blockades of free speech as it relates to the hot-button \u201credefinition of marriage\u201d mayhem.\u00a0 In the past few weeks this has taken a very personal and utterly un-American turn as one of the nation\u2019s largest family owned businesses is being targeted for extinction by government representatives-turned-operatives over the family\u2019s constitutionally protected exercise of expressing their political opinions openly. <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

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Dan Cathy, President and CEO of Chick-fil-A, apparently crossed an invisible line in the spirit of the First Amendment last week when he simply stated, \u201cguilty as charged\u201d to the assertion that he upholds a biblical definition of marriage (as being uniquely between man and woman).\u00a0 He followed with comments on the Ken Coleman Show with his suggestion that the nation could face God\u2019s judgment over the redefinition of marriage.\u00a0 This, according to a growing list governing officials, is tantamount to gay bashing.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

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Chicago mayor Rahm Emanuel claimed that \u201cChick-fil-A values\u2026disrespect our fellow neighbors and residents.\u201d\u00a0 He vowed to support the blocking of new Chick-fil-A construction announced by Proco Joe Moreno, in Chicago\u2019s 1st Ward.\u00a0 Moreno claims that Cathy is \u201cbigoted\u201d and \u201chomophobic\u201d because he is against gay marriage.\u00a0 In addition to Chicago (the last place on earth that should be dis-allowing a successful business opportunity) Boston Mayor Thomas Menino informed the Boston Herald that he no longer wants Chick-fil-A in Boston.\u00a0 In Mountain View, California a gay couple as at least temporarily blocked the opening of another Chick-fil-A by launching a \u201czoning\u201d challenge, noting that \u201cbecause it was a bunch of bigots, it gave us an extra nudge\u201d to attempt to prevent them from building a restaurant there.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

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The irony of each of these scenarios should be crystal clear to anyone; whether gay, straight, atheistic or a believer.\u00a0 Simply put, this is a full living color illustration of the new art of bullying via charges of \u2018bigotry.\u2019\u00a0 Call someone a bigot and you will immediately find support for your cause. <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

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Forget the fact the homosexual community is the first to scream \u201cFirst Amendment\u201d when they break decency laws on the streets of New York City; sodomizing one another in the streets for what is depicted as a \u201cparade.\u201d\u00a0 Forget the fact that every group that has the ability to decry \u201cbigot\u201d does so with the same constitutionally granted freedom that those they cry against are using in stating their own objections.\u00a0 Let\u2019s focus on a much simpler fact:\u00a0 gay marriage is a moral and POLITICAL issue being argued in every federal, state and local election bid.\u00a0 Cathy did not say he hated homosexuals.\u00a0 He did not say they were not allowed to eat in his establishments.\u00a0 Quite the contrary, he noted the continued openness of his venues to serve people of all types, explicitly including \u201csexual orientation.\u201d\u00a0 The issue against Cathy is not homophobia or gay bashing.\u00a0 Nothing of the sort has taken place.\u00a0 He said what nearly every republican presidential nominee this past year has said; that he is opposed to the redefinition of marriage to include same-sex genders. <\/em><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

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Since when has power been granted to government heads to punish their people for not \u201cthinking\u201d according to a pre-set template?\u00a0 By what right does a mayor or a district alderman (for crying out loud) refuse successful businessmen from building their enterprise based on their being on the side of other government officials<\/em> who argue the same principles?\u00a0 Have these people not watched a single presidential debate this year?\u00a0 Do they not read newspapers?\u00a0 Are they so out of touch as to not know that this is an ongoing national debate?\u00a0 This is America; a land built on the principle of public and open debate on the issues before the people. <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

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Cathy is an American citizen.\u00a0 His family employs 61,000 Americans in the worst economy of most of our lifetimes.\u00a0 He has constitutionally-protected rights to express his opinion on any political issue of his choosing.\u00a0 Any politician who attempts to destroy his business because of his views on a very public and torn political argument is proving himself<\/em> to be a bigger bigot than he claims Cathy is. <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

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Merriam-Webster <\/span>defines bigotry<\/span><\/a> as \u201ca person who is obstinately or intolerantly devoted to his or her own opinions and prejudices…\u201d\u00a0 How more intolerant can one be than to determine \u201cif you do not agree with our side of an ongoing national debate we will deny you a right to do business in our city?\u201d \u00a0These men should be impeached for using their offices as playpens for their personal agendas.\u00a0 They are clearly outside of their governing roles in a representative system when they harass their opponents over the fundamental practice of their rights.\u00a0 They are doing precisely what they accuse others of doing by fighting (supposed) bigotry with bigotry. <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The American system of public discourse and representative government is not hard to grasp.\u00a0 We are \u201cthe melting pot\u201d where people from every race, creed and background are welcomed to bring their best to the table.\u00a0 Governing that table are representatives duly elected to uphold the will of the collective population from within the framework […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[9,10],"tags":[40,83],"series":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/returningking.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1262"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/returningking.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/returningking.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/returningking.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/returningking.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1262"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/returningking.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1262\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/returningking.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1262"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/returningking.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1262"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/returningking.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1262"},{"taxonomy":"series","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/returningking.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fseries&post=1262"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}