- A federal hate bill would give complete "police
state" powers to big government to swoop down to investigate and prosecute
"hate-motivated" crime. But liberal activists hardly need to
wait for such legislation. Increasingly, the government uses the vagaries
of civil rights laws and the FBI to leap over established barriers to federal
intervention in state law enforcement.
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- Founding father James Madison warned that, if the federal
government can spend money indefinitely for "the general welfare,"
then its powers will "subvert the very foundation, the very nature
of the limited government established by the people of America." The
Constitution and legal precedent have limited the federal government from
meddling in states' law enforcement, except in small numbers of instances.
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- Today, all it seems to take is a request from a local
police or government agency or an offended homosexual screaming, "Hate
crime!" to bring the feds running. And since September 11, domestic
hate crimes are often linked with that inflammatory one-word excuse for
abuse of government power-"terrorism." The FBI's website proclaims,
"Investigating hate crime is the number one priority of our Civil
Rights Program. Why? Not only because hate crime has a devastating impact
on families and communities, but also because groups that preach hatred
and intolerance plant the seeds of terrorism here in our country."
Wow, the seeds of terrorism. This fire-breathing rhetoric is used to justify
federal involvement in crimes that should be dealt with by local authorities.
The FBI instead sweeps in to investigate minor vandalism crimes, proclaiming
that America's epidemic of hate must be stopped before it rips our nation
apart.
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- Here are some examples. The FBI is investigating an Idaho
incident where a couple of thugs allegedly punched a young black girl after
egging her parents' car and shouting harassment outside her home. The feds
got involved when a swastika was scribbled on the van of a predominantly
black church in Indiana. Local news described the incident with these throat-grabbing
words, "Hate has the potential to destroy a community." (The
story admits the vandalism might have been the work of a bored teen. The
church's pastor said he lived in that town for 23 years and never saw this
kind of activity. But federal agents got involved and it's being investigated
as a hate crime.) FBI might also join prosecution of a Texas "hate
crime" where hate graffiti was scribbled on a car with a Sharpie marker.
(Its black owner said, "I have actually been in Nashville for 16 yearsI
have never seen anything like this." Despite this, he says, "It
takes you to the core. It just hits you right in the core.") A California
man was recently sentenced to six and a half years in prison for "a
series of race-motivated threats" against a black man and his family.
Again, this brought in the FBI. Acting Assistant Attorney General for the
Civil Rights Division Grace Chung Becker said, "Hate and intolerance
tear at the very fabric of our great nation --- a fabric that is strengthened
by its diversity of races, religions and national origins."
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- Last year, House majority leader Steny Hoyerrepeated
the tear-the-fabric metaphor during debate of the expanded federal "anti-hate"
bill. He said "brutal hate crimes motivated by race, religion, national
origin, gender, sexual orientation and identity or disability not only
injure individual victims, but also terrorize entire segments of our population
and tear at our nation's social fabric." Hate crime laws say bias
against certain groups is so bad-and those groups need such special protection-that
we need extra laws and penalties against those beliefs; fragile minority
communities are at risk from the statement made by bias-motivated crimes.
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- Of course, any crime, regardless of motive, hurts communities.
But, while the expression of hate can devastate individuals, the danger
to society from "anti-hate" laws is far, far greater.
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- Freedom of speech and ideas provide access to the very
truths and free protest that combat hatred. Also, the expansion of federal
power in law enforcement poses a far greater threat than even the most
unpleasant rash of hateful graffiti.
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- The real threat of hate crime laws is that they are actually
thought crime laws-a terrifying prelude to an Orwellian society that cracks
down on unapproved beliefs. "Hate" and "intolerance"
are feelings that rise from convictions. The next obvious step is to criminalize
those convictions, and statements about them, even when they aren't connected
to an act of violence or a crime. Since the federal government has already
assumed tremendous power to act against hate crimes, it won't just be one
or two states prosecuting free expression of bias. Federal prosecution
of public "hate" will shatter America's remaining freedoms.
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- Once that happens, America is dead. Freedom made our
nation great and unique. When we lose freedom, we lose America.
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