Big-City mayors are attacking Chick-fil-A by threatening to deny them a business license to operate. These liberal mayors don’t like the public stand the owners have taken on defending biblical marriage. This is tyranny of the first order. First it was punishment for “hate crimes,” then it was for “hate speech,” and now it’s hate “thought crimes.”

The mayor of Chicago, Rahm Emanuel, welcomes an anti-semite but refuses to allow a Christian business to operate within the city. Emanuel said, “Chick-fil-A’s values are not Chicago values. They’re not respectful of our residents, our neighbors, and our family members. And if you’re gonna be part of the Chicago community, you should reflect Chicago values.” I suppose the “values” of an anti-semite are Chicago’s values:

Ignoring Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan’s history of anti-Semitic remarks, Mayor Rahm Emanuel on Wednesday welcomed the army of men dispatched to the streets by Farrakhan to stop the violence in Chicago neighborhoods.

Maybe if these gang members had jobs at Chick-fil-A violence would go down. When will Jews get the message that Democrats are not their friends?

Even liberal newspaper editorials think the actions of the mayors of Chicago, Boston, and Mountain View, California, are way out of line:

“Public officials have a responsibility to carry out their ministerial tasks fairly and evenhandedly – and to uphold the principle of free speech – whether or not they like a business executive’s social or political stances,” the [Los Angeles] Times opined.

“The Boston Globe wondered “which part of the First Amendment does [Boston Mayor Thomas] Menino not understand? A business owner’s political or religious beliefs should not be a test for the worthiness of his or her application for a business license.”

What’s next? If a business owner opposes abortion — even though he is not in the anti-abortion business — will that business owner be denied a business license? Will Republican business owners be denied a business license if they oppose ObamaCare?

Will churches be denied the right to exist in liberal cities if they continue to preach against abortion and homosexuality or anything else that the powers that be consider to be ideologically inappropriate? These are not far-fetched concerns. Canada and some European governments will prosecute ministers who take a public stand against homosexuality.

The owners of Chick-fil-A believe certain things. Everybody believes certain things. Does a belief system disqualify someone from operating a business? Boston Mayor Tom Menino knows that he can’t deny a business license to someone for what he believes, so he’s accusing Chick-fil-A of actual discrimination:

“You can’t have a business in the City of Boston that discriminates against a population. We’re an open city. We’re a city that’s at the forefront of inclusion.”

As anyone who has followed this story knows, Chick-fil-A does not discriminate against anyone. Everybody is served. No questions are asked. It wouldn’t surprise me that there are a lot of business owners in Boston who are racists and sexists. Will the mayor shut them down?

Then there’s the job side in all of this. The economy is suffering. People want jobs, and the mayors of these cities are denying people access to a great work environment, good pay, and benefits.