Civility used to be the hallmark of American politics, but those days are long gone. Years of the left finding new Hitlers in every Republican and bellowing about how “right-wing extremists” were nothing less than the greatest terror threat the nation faces have not had their intended effect, which was to discredit and destroy dissident voices entirely and ensure the left’s hegemony on an indefinite basis. The left’s demonization of all opposition, however, has had the effect of poisoning the public discourse to the extent that leftist perspectives are the only ones that could be aired in public, and if you’re a dissident, you’re a marked man. One of those areas is none other than Washington, D.C.
Fox News reported Thursday that “food workers in Washington, D.C., pledged to refuse service and cause other inconveniences for members of the incoming Trump administration when they dine out over the next four years.” Charming. One would think that those restaurant and bar workers who survived the COVID years would be grateful for any and all business. One would think wrong. One’s commitment to wokeness, as it turns out, is more important than one’s commitment to paying the bills.
It's so much more important, in fact, that far-left “industry veterans, bartenders and servers” declared that “resistance to the Republican figures in the progressive city was inevitable and a matter of conscience.” Inevitable? No. A matter of conscience? Sure, if your conscience is telling you that being arrogant, self-righteous, self-defeating, and authoritarian is morally right.
Zac Hoffman, manager at the National Democratic Club, acted as if refusing to serve Trump administration officials was a simple and obvious choice, saying: "You expect the masses to just ignore RFK eating at Le Diplomate on a Sunday morning after a few mimosas and not to throw a drink in his face?" Well, actually, yeah. I do expect the masses to leave RFK Jr. alone and let him enjoy his breakfast in peace. Any ordinary, decent human being would expect just that.
Apparently, this has to be spelled out for the likes of Zac Hoffman, but it is not common or accepted practice for people to stride into restaurants and demand to know the political views of everyone else who was dining there, and then proceed to assault everyone whose views are deemed unacceptable. Ideological purity has never been expected at restaurants, or at least it hasn’t up until now, when dime-store Berias such as Zac Hoffman now consider themselves righteous if they ruin the breakfast, and the day, of someone who has the temerity to disagree with their views.
This rudeness and authoritarianism are being sold to bar and restaurant staffers as a heroic act of “resistance.” One far-left bartender, Nancy (no last name was given, for obvious reasons), explained, "This person theoretically has the power to take away your rights, but I have the power to make you wait 20 minutes to get your entrée." What rights this witless AOC-in-the-making stands to lose when Trump becomes president again was left unexplained. It’s too bad that it won’t be the right to act like a jerk toward paying customers because one dislikes their political views. The bartender continued, "There’s a lot of opportunities for us as workers to feel like we’re taking our power back, while not necessarily ruining someone’s life. Giving them a subtle inconvenience feels like a little bit of a win for us." Not “necessarily” ruining someone’s life! Hey, give her credit for her magnanimity!
"There is power,” this same cultural revolutionary proclaimed, “in making it known that you’re not comfortable with a situation, and it doesn’t necessarily have to be this big dramatic show. It’s just little bits of resistance that add up and little bits of resistance that other people will see and hopefully feel empowered to stand on those convictions as well." Yeah, that’s gonna work. There is no doubt whatsoever that after a few mimosas are thrown in his face, RFK Jr. will see the light and abandon his efforts to hold Big Pharma accountable and restore healthy standards to foodstuffs and pharmaceuticals.
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Another hard-left fanatic, Suzannah Van Rooy of Beuchert’s Saloon on Capitol Hill, agreed with Nancy: "I personally would refuse to serve any person in office who I know of as being a sex trafficker or trying to deport millions of people.” She didn’t say anything about illegal migrant crime or the rise in unemployment that the entry of millions of those migrants has entailed. But she assures us that her heart, as small and coal-like as it is, is in the right place: "It’s not, ‘Oh, we hate Republicans.’ It’s that this person has moral convictions that are strongly opposed to mine, and I don’t feel comfortable serving them."
Then quit your job. Maybe in the Soviet Union and Communist China, it was impossible for dissidents to get a decent meal, but being an ideological conformist has never been a requirement for dining out in the Land of the Free and Home of the Brave. Until now, that is. If you’re unlucky enough to find yourself in Washington, prepare to have to declare how much you love Big Brother before you can get a table in a restaurant. It’s the party of love and tolerance, doncha know.
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