This post caught my eye and typifies all that is wrong with the revisionist Bircherite academics associated with the extreme end of the Libertarian Austrian School – and the Neo-Confederate Thomas DiLorenzo (President of the Ludwig von Mises Institute) is among the worst.
He completely misrepresents the situation which I have been following since the story emerged. It has since gathered a fair bit of attention within Evangelical circles but in every case the reporting is misleading or just completely misses the point. But this attempt at spin by DiLorenzo is ridiculous.
DiLorenzo presents the controversy as if New York is hunting down Chick-fil-a and targeting them for special persecution because of the Sunday closure policy. This is not the case. Nor is it true that this is a plot to nationalise the company (communist style) and compel work from its employees.
This is about the New York Thruway – or Turnpike as it's called in other states. These are toll highways and as such they have isolated travel plazas. Once everyone gets on the highway, to get off you have to go through a toll plaza and as such, once you're on – you stay on until your exit off-ramp which potentially could be dozens or hundreds of miles away.
Thus, there are service plazas along the route. You exit but are still within the Thruway (or Turnpike) corridor. The only thing to do is get back on the highway. You can't leave because that would mean exiting without paying the toll. These plazas have restrooms and various vendors and yet since they are limited in what they offer, it's a kind of monopoly for the companies situated within – companies which bid for these lucrative contracts.
The various restaurants, Starbucks, and the like are certain to get a tremendous amount of business as Thruway/Turnpike travelers have nowhere else to go. New York's system is the fifth busiest in the United States – indicating just how much volume there is on this road. We're talking millions of cars and people passing through and many will eventually (at some point) stop at one of these plazas and get something to eat or drink.
With Chick-fil-a being closed on Sunday, there's no doubt that in the said plazas, lines are much longer for the few remaining places that are open. There are fewer options. Most of these plazas only have a few eateries to begin with.
The problem here isn't that Chick-fil-a is being targeted. The problem is the fast food chain was greedy and sought out the contracts with the Thruway. Again, they're worth a lot of money with the guarantee of significant business. That's what motivated them.
And yet travelers are (perhaps justifiably) irked that they're closed. Travel is significant on Sunday, especially around holiday weekends. If Chick-fil-a didn't want to be open on Sunday (which is just fine with everyone) then why did they bid on these contracts? Why seek to set up shop in the travel plazas? No one forced them to do this. They did it because the company is built on avarice and exploitative profits. That's why the owner is a billionaire.
But then it's not fair that they decide they don't want to serve people on Sunday. The Travel Plaza model assumes that something will be open seven days a week – and in some cases twenty-four hours a day. Unless you're going to shut down the highways, restaurants, and hotels on Sundays, then it's futile. I'm fully on board with the voluntary shutting down of businesses on Sunday, and if more companies did it then it would change society. But of course the bulk of the society is not Christian and even most Christian businesses don't want to give up the lucrative profits that Sunday brings – demonstrating where their true loyalties are to be found. To my mind, the Thruway is a patent case of something for a Christian business owner to avoid. I don't want to work on Sundays and I can't in good conscience force my employees to do so. It's not because it's the Sabbath but because it's the first day of the week – the day the Church meets.
If the pagans want to be open and work – then fine. I have no objection. Their problem is not that they're in violation of a moral law (as certain theological categories and systems will insist) but that they're lost and in need of redemption. Making pagans keep Sabbath does not help them nor does it honour God. It just makes hypocrites that are nevertheless still profane in their hearts and even their actions, regardless of whatever threat a pseudo-Christian order attempts to impose upon them.
Chick-fil-a brought this on themselves. To get out of the contract (which is what they need to do) will undoubtedly cost a lot of money and as the Thruway commission is not going to feel very generous when it comes to the construction and delays required for a new restaurant to come into these spaces – it won't be an easy deal to negotiate. They will lose money I'm sure. I cannot bring myself to feel any sympathy for this company.
They should have never bid for it in the first place. To demand that everyone bow to your wishes and company policies doesn't come across very well. For that matter the Thruway probably needs to review the whole process and determine why this wasn't looked in to before they gave Chick-fil-a the contract. You can be sure future contracts will require a signature promising to be open on Sunday. In which case, Christian owned businesses need not apply – and that's fine. We should expect as much. In a wicked godless system, faithful Christians are not going to flourish. Those that do, only do so by compromising with the system and adopting its values. This was true of outlets like Chick-fil-a and Hobby Lobby long ago and has nothing to do with their Sunday closure policies. Such practices are in actuality an anomaly for companies that are otherwise and in every way fully on board with the world system and its values. It's a wicked system and those who become billionaires within it – are wicked too.
To suggest this is persecution or some communist plan of forced labour is completely ridiculous – as is DiLorenzo on just about every topic he addresses. What a buffoon.
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