Chick-Fil-A and Foreign Policy

Someone asked me why people get more worked up about Chick-Fil-A than, say, soldier deaths in Afghanistan? Good question.

Human beings are wired to be engaged, first and foremost, with their everyday experiences. Chick-Fil-A is across the street. Afghanistan is across the globe. Americans discuss gay marriage all the time. War, much less. Americans know homosexuals. They know Christians. They know few Afghans.

This is not to excuse our foreign policy, but it does remind us there is no excuse for our foreign policy. This is also not to ignore the many civilian deaths caused by war, but it does remind us that a combat theater far removed from the daily lives of most Americans makes it much easier for them to remain unaware of these tragedies. Unfortunately, Afghans themselves cannot afford this luxury.

These life and death foreign policy decisions carry much more weight than a fast food restaurant owner’s opinion on gay marriage.

And war for what? This President cannot even articulate what we are trying to accomplish over there at this point. As George Will said of Afghanistan, “nation-building would be impossible even if we knew how.”

The wars we fight should never be an afterthought. Our troops should never be an afterthought. Human life in any capacity should never be an afterthought. Too often they are. 

In the meantime, there is Chick-Fil-A.