It’s taken more than 200 years, two world wars, an industrial revolution, and the dawn of the Internet, but the United States once again finds itself at the mercy of an intolerant king.

Instead of a tax on tea, King Barack Obama and his Democrat Knights of the Fast Food Table seem intent on imposing a penalty on chicken – but not all chicken.

They are only targeting poultry prepared by Chick-fil-A.

And it’s not because King Obama has decreed that Chick-fil-A makes a product that is any way unsuitable for the American people. It’s because Chick-fil-A President Dan Cathy had the audacity to make comments supporting families and the “biblical definition of the family unit” – comments that apparently conflict with the king’s recent pronouncement on gay marriage, even though a careful review of Cathy’s comments will show that he said nothing about gay marriage; the inference seems to have been started by liberal reporters and headline writers trying to stir the pot.

Nonetheless, Cathy’s comments have infuriated the petulant king and his court, so much so that King Obama’s mayors in Boston and Chicago issued proclamations of their own aimed at stopping further expansion of Chick-fil-A restaurants in their cities.

This is nothing short of outrageous behavior by a king who is obviously out of touch with the rest of us.

King Obama’s rule is so egregious, in fact, that the traditionally left ACLU has weighed in on the side of Chick-fil-A. A senior attorney for the ACLU of Illinois reportedly told an interviewer that any government that can exclude a business for being against same-sex marriage can also exclude a business for being in support of same-sex marriage.

It shows you how far to the left that the Democrat Party has gotten when the ACLU can’t support its positions.

Unfortunately, the king’s bad behavior doesn’t stop with the food we eat. Part of King Obama’s health care law also took effect recently. It will essentially force most employer-based insurance systems to provide free contraceptive services, including the morning-after pill.

The implementation of the health care mandate comes less than a week after a federal judge in Colorado temporarily blocked the government from enforcing its contraception requirement on Denver-based Hercules Industries, a private manufacturer of heating, ventilation, and air conditioning equipment, which happens to be run by a Catholic family.

This is a case where King Obama’s Justice Department offered the head of Hercules a choice: Either give your employees free contraception or surrender your company to the crown.

Put another way: Give up your company or give up your religion.

Not only is my father probably rolling over in his grave right now, but I would be so bold to say that FDR and John F. Kennedy are too.

We have a president who thinks he’s a king. And America cannot afford four more years of a king who can so cavalierly discard the U.S. Constitution when it doesn’t suit his political agenda.

I find it somewhat ironic that while the Justice Department is asking people to surrender their religion and their companies, some wealthy Democrats are giving up their passports to escape the tyranny of King Obama.

Copyright ©2012 Michael Reagan