Freedom to dine is worth defending
In a White House swarming with repulsive characters, Sarah Huckabee Sanders still stands out each day as a treacherous beast that gnaws on the skeletal remains of truth and decency while spinning for an administration that has contempt for both.
This is the nature of her job. Sanders is the chief mouthpiece for U.S. President Pinocchio Trump. In the same way a plumber fixes pipes or an arborist prunes trees, Sanders takes a blowtorch to reality and a chainsaw to the once-fruitful branches of American democracy. That she does this with snide jabs and the smoky-eyed insouciance of a dime store thief makes her TV facetime even more insufferable.
Imagine if there was a PR job that involved flogging cigarettes, praising asbestos, questioning gravity, denying the Earth was round and identifying kittens as a national security threat. That’s her gig. She is paid to defend the indefensible.
Even Mother Teresa would seem like a soulless monster while genuflecting on kiddie prisons or casting aspersions on the rule of law.
That said, I’m reluctant to cheer on this little restaurant in Virginia that asked Sanders to leave on Friday night. The incident, which came to light the next morning when Sanders used her official press secretary account to gripe-tweet about it — a possible ethics violation, but that’s another column — has unleashed a new polarized screamfest that seems impervious to reasonable debate.
Did the owner of the Red Hen do the right thing? Or is the shunning of offduty public figures over moral and political differences, however profound, a dangerous precedent?
If the service industry becomes the take-a-stand industry, are we not on a slippery slope toward the targeted discrimination abhorred by Trump critics?
On Monday, since he’s clearly not swamped with governing, President Pants on Fire jumped into the gustatory fray. Predictably, he tweeted: “The Red Hen Restaurant should focus more on cleaning its filthy canopies, doors and windows (badly needs a paint job) rather than refusing to serve a fine person like Sarah Huckabee Sanders. I always had a rule, if a restaurant is dirty on the outside, it is dirty on the inside!”
Right. I’ll refrain from bringing up the 55 health citations Mar-a-Lago has received since 2014. But I also have a rule: if the leader of the free world is reduced to Yelp-grade slander, we are further down the rabbit hole than previously imagined. Trump is hard-wired to start culture wars. But this is one battle his enemies should avoid.
Booting Sanders from the Red Hen was not a moral victory for anyone — it was a needless provocation from which all sides stand to lose in the long run. Repeat: slippery slope. The hypocrisy of conservatives lashing out at the Red Hen, from posting scath- ing reviews to phoning in fake reservations, is staggering. These are the same folks who celebrated a recent Supreme Court decision in favour of the Colorado baker who refused to make a wedding cake for a gay couple. But if that baker was justified in denying service due to his religious beliefs, how is the Red Hen not justified in denying service due to its own convictions?
Answer: neither is justified. Both are wrong.
Stephanie Wilkinson, who co-owns the Red Hen, told the Washington Post she asked Sanders to vamoose after taking a vote from staffers who were “concerned.” As Wilkinson recalled her conversation with Sanders: “I explained that the restaurant has certain standards that I feel it has to uphold, such as honesty, and compassion, and co-operation.”
To her credit, Sanders did the walk of shame without creating a scene (until the next day). But there is a larger concern: if a baker can reject a gay couple or a restaurant can spurn a reviled political official, who or what comes next?
What happens when a doctor decides it violates “certain standards” to prescribe birth control? What happens when a lawyer decides he or she can’t in good conscience represent a client who voted Green or is in a biracial relationship?
The logical consequence of celebrated discrimination is more discrimination.
If you decide to create a private business to serve the public, shouldn’t you serve the public — even if you occasionally must serve a particular customer with whom you disagree or actively dislike? Shouldn’t the political views of a customer vanish inside your establishment? I may personally believe Justin Trudeau is a fraud obsessed with identity politics. But that should not infringe upon my right to a bonedry martini on a Friday night.
Unless America wants to return to the days of segregated buses and water fountains — and maybe that’s exactly what some Trump supporters want — bakeries and restaurants should be safe spaces for everyone.
No, I wouldn’t want to be at the next table as Stephen Miller chokes down a quesadilla while fantasizing about mass deportations. But I would defend his right to be there until my dying days. In this sense, free eating is just like free speech: you must defend the stuff that makes you queasy.
Just as advanced civilizations need a separation between church and state, the service industry needs a separation between serving and judging.