When one of his more conservative friends came in and announced that his rights to free speech were being violated by this law, and that the federal government's intrusion in this area was unconstitutional, I came in and asked him to explain to me just how his rights were being violated by this law. He responded thus:
"When bills are written that extend protections to specific groups, they potentially criminalizes those who speak out against said groups."
He then launched into a diatribe against federal government intrusion and how we liberals have a "narrow world view". So I decided to show this young man just who had the narrow world view. The following was my response.
And these bills wouldn't be necessary if our existing state governments and law enforcements would do blind justice to each and every person who is the victim of a crime no matter its motivation! But unfortunately, in 1969 the Federal Hate Crimes law was enacted because we had too many governments and law enforcement agencies (especially in the South), who would not protect their black citizens. So the federal government had to step in and ENFORCE their protection. If state governments REFUSE to do justice and enforce the equality found in their own constitutions (which cannot, by law, be out of line with the US Constitution), the the federal government not only has the RIGHT but the RESPONSIBILITY to SEE TO IT that those laws are ENFORCED. The bill has been expanded to protect other classes of minorities because it has become clear that state governments, once again, are not willing to protect all of their citizens EQUALLY, under the laws of their own states. So when ALL states and the agencies of those states begin to act JUSTLY, according TO THEIR OWN LAWS on the behalf of ALL their citizens, then perhaps we can reopen this debate and discuss the evils of big government and federal intervention.
If you want this kind of federal government intrusion to end, then get off of your ass and stop whining about how your rights are being taken away from you, and go to your STATE government and DEMAND that it enforce the equality that is already built into its own constitution! Demand that EACH AND EVERY citizen in the state of Maryland be treated EQUALLY under the laws of your state and demand that law enforcement agencies investigate all rapes, domestic violence against women, racial crimes, crimes committed against the handicapped, violent crimes committed against transsexuals, gays, lesbians, and everyone in-between be investigated and prosecuted to the FULL EXTENT of the LAW. THEN when your state COMPLIES to their OWN LAW, and the federal government is still bent on intervention, you will have a right to complain.
Thus endeth the debate.
I always look at hate crimes as the same as terrorist attacks, except that they're on a smaller scale. The point of a hate crime is to make everyone in a certain class be afraid that they will be the next target, just as the purpose of a terrorist attack is to make people in a country afraid that they will be next.
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