LIFE IN OBAMA’S AMERICA: Should the Government Decide Which Political Positions Disqualify One from Dispensing Chicken?

Again, to be clear: What we have here is a government entity discussing who should and should not be allowed to sell their wares based entirely on whether or not the politicians who make up the entity like their politics.

On the one hand, I’d like to say that this is a compelling reason to privatize airports entirely: The First Amendment implications of such efforts are glaring and, setting aside little things like free speech, it’s altogether idiotic that our elected leaders consider themselves qualified to judge which businesses should be allowed to hawk their wares.

On the other, though, it has become distressingly common for people to politicize every realm of life. Taking the decision making process out of the hands of glorified government bureaucrats and putting it in the hands of private businessmen is no guarantee that people rushing between concourses in Denver would be allowed to enjoy delicious, delicious chicken. Outrage mobs gonna outrage. As I noted at the Washington Post this week, we’d all be happier if we agreed to a form of culture war detente and refrained from attempting to deprive people of their livelihood for daring to disagree with your politics.

That’ll only happen when this sort of attack becomes unacceptably painful, on a personal level. So make ’em regret it. Demonize, personalize, go after their jobs and their position in the community. You know, act like lefties.