"Dead-Fish" Rahm Vs. Chick-Fil-A

To set the historical context of this sorted tell of Chicago politics let us go back to the Presidential Election of 2008 after President Obama won and Rahm Emanuel was named Chief of Staff to the President. The sending of a dead fish is what gangster folk-lore is made of. In an article in the Huffington Post Rahm has a "dead-fish" handed to him as a parting gift when he resigned from being Chief of Staff at the White house to run for the Chicago Mayor's position. In this article there is a reference to Rahm sending a dead fish to a pollster that he did not like. The whole dead fish illustration is an allusion to the Emanuel legend of his sending a dead fish to a pollster for whom he didn't care, replicating the scene from The Godfather when the Corleone's were alerted of Luca Brasi's death with a dead fish wrapped in Brasi's bullet-proof vest [http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/10/01/rahm-emanuel-dead-fish_n_746738.html]. With his propensity of gangster folk-lore Rahm is right at home when he makes the following statement; "Chick-Fil-A values are not Chicago's values" [http://radio.foxnews.com/toddstarnes/top-stories/cities-move-to-ban-chick-fil-a-supporters-launch-day-of-support.html]. Rahm's statement was in response and in support to Alderman Procco Moreno's statement that he would block the development of a new Chick-Fil-A in the first ward because he felt that Chick-Fil-A was discriminating a segment of the Chicago population.

Many are calling this "strong-arm" politics. Having grown up in Northwest Indiana/Southeast Chicago area, I would see this as business as usual in Chicago going back to the "Mayor Daily Machine." I do not think the mayor counted on the backlash from the evangelical community. Dan Cathy President of Chick-Fil-A stated that marriage is one man and one woman. Because of this, Chicago is strong-arming a business because of the rightful voice in the market place. Franklin Graham has spoken in favor of Cathy by stating, "I applaud the courage of Cathy and Chick-fil-A to take a bold stand for the biblical definition of marriage between a man and woman in a culture that has grown openly hostile to the Christian faith and its followers." [http://billygraham.org/articlepage.asp?articleid=8820]. Dr George Woods, General Superintendent of the Assembly of God had some powerful questions to ask in an interview with Charisma News: ““Are you saying that the Catholics are also unwelcome in Chicago because they don’t have Chicago values? That evangelicals aren’t welcome? That Muslims aren’t welcome? That Orthodox Jewish people are not welcome? “That other persons who have religious beliefs that marriage is between a man and a woman don’t have Chicago values and therefore they are excluded from your community? Do you intend to discriminate against persons of faith? Do you intend to marginalize them? Are you becoming, in your view, intolerant of persons of religious faith? [http://www.charismanews.com/us/33867-assemblies-of-god-speaks-out-on-chick-fil-a-controversy].

Mike Huckabee is calling a for a day of support, August 1, 2012 from his website [http://www.mikehuckabee.com/]. I think that is a good thing. Not because that I happen to like there chicken sandwich, but rather because Francis A Schaeffer alluded to the idea that Christian theology must be studied because bad theology demands an answer. The secularism of Chicago politics demands an answer.  Enjoy your sandwich!