Proud to be an American at Chik-fil-A.

So I went to lunch at the Left's most-hated chicken place today. Wisely I went early, arriving at 11 instead of noon. And the place was already packed, with nary a parking space available and lines at the registers. It was immediately obvious that America had turned out in response to the Left's attempt to bully this fast-food chain into submission after it's president had dared express his personal view on the gay "marriage" issue.

The crowd in the restaurant was an excellent cross-section of Americana. There were senior citizens and young mothers with children. There was a whole table of workers from Frontier Cable there, and three more tables of uniformed officers from Customs and Border Protection (CBP) and the US Border Patrol, both of which have a training center near here. Another table was Coast Guard officers in uniform. There were construction workers and Harley riders there, too. And of course yours truly. The crowd was young and old, black, white and Hispanic, blue collar, white collar and no collar. And as store staff moved through the crowd delivering food and clearing trays away, people could be heard thanking them for standing tall on this issue and proudly proclaiming that this was why they were here today. And I was proud to be among there people who had come out individually to tell the liberal thought police and the gay-lobby Taliban to stuff a sock in it.

America has always been a place where freedom of speech and diversity of belief were sacred and deserving of protection. However we're now seeing an environment where that only applies to certain beliefs (read: liberal ones) and if you dare stand apart from the left with your own opinions, you run the risk of being vilified, slandered, and economically harmed. These days, if you do not agree with the Left, you're automatically labeled a "bigot" and attacked without quarter. If you have a public face, a professional reputation or a business, they will try to destroy you simply because you had the temerity to not agree with them. And now we have actual government officials, supposed "public servants" each and every one, threatening to shut down businesses and deny business permits to companies whose officials try to express their First Amendment Rights by saying something that those government officials or their supporters do not like. Well that's about as un-American as it gets, and the mayors and councils of Boston, Chicago, and Washington, DC (of all places) should be ashamed for their threats and actions taken to try to punish Chik-fil-A for their President's opinions.

I felt strongly enough about it to come out to support this American business today, and I definitely wasn't alone. By the time I left, the line stretched out the door and down the sidewalk and people were parking a block away and walking towards the place, almost all of them undoubtedly motivated as I was by a desire to stand up for Freedom and against the Left, the gay special interest groups in particular, and their mainstream media lapdogs. It was great to see all of these people taking time out of their day to come be a part of this effort and I'm proud to be in their company.

And lest you think that it was just my local Chik-fil-A in Charles Town, WV, I just drove past the branch in Martinsburg and the parking lot was so full that cars were lined up trying to get into it from both directions on the main road. Clearly America is speaking with one voice today. If the Left is smart, they'll listen.

But then if the Left was smart, they'd be on the Right.


Edited to add: When I drove past the Martinsburg store again 45 minutes later, it was empty and the police had the parking area completely blocked off. Apparently some "tolerant progressive" called in a bomb threat to the store.