Political Cookies and Chicken

With the entire nation obsessing over Chick-fil-A and the company's latest statement speaking out against gay marriage, I just want to express my thoughts on the subject.

I should probably preface this by saying that I am completely and utterly for gay marriage. This being said, I think Chick-fil-A, and everyone else, should just stop it. I actually wish Dan Cathy had never made his statement with regards to Chick-fil-A and their anti-gay "values". The reason being, Chick-fil-A is a business, and as such their first priority should be to make money by providing good products. Their second priority, since they already have delicious products that sell well, should be to work on improving and developing new ways to gain money. But not empty money, money in exchange for the wonderful service and products their customers receive.

Maybe this is all just because I'm in the middle of reading Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand, and a major point in the book is that companies need to stop trying to be political, or getting themselves involved with "important issues", and just be the best company they can be.

And I completely agree. Yes, I realize that Chick-fil-A has already identified itself as a Christian fast-food restaurant, but you don't see a bunch of other Christian companies taking time from running their business to get involved with politics. Dan Cathy and his family are allowed to have whatever opinions of gay marriage as they would like, and they are also perfectly capable of donating their proceeds to anti-gay things, but that isn't something that they need to advertise. Companies don't go around making statements about the way their company budgets their profits, and I don't see why Chick-fil-A felt the need to start now.

This being said, I should probably also address Oreos and the other companies who have recently made pro-gay advertisements. I would be lying if I said I wasn't somewhat pleased with this, which is part of my problem. I realize that, until now, I was being hypocritical. But I realize that I also wish companies would stop with the pro-gay advertisements as well.

Here's to hoping that all companies are able to drop the political campaigns, and go back to focusing on their company, and, by extension, how to make more money. After all, you don't start and business to get into politics-- you do it to make a living.