Hating Hate Crimes Laws

Constitution Club ^ | 05-03-07 | DFV the Scribe

[TheConservativeCitizen]

The scariest part about the bill to expand federal hate crimes law isn’t the fact that it seeks to overturn the American principle of equal justice under the law, though that is a close second. The scariest part is that it now makes the federal government a participant in hundreds more state crimes, including every sexual assault case or domestic violence case.

If there were any true liberals left (instead of just partisan anti-Republicans), they would be wary of this bill. That almost no one from the left is, is an example of the vacuum of traditional, left-of-center, intellectual thought.

Blame it on Bush if you must. Perhaps opposition to him has taken on such an imperative that even egregious injuries to liberal tenents will be swept under the rug in the name of unity. But in a nation of 300 million, can’t the Left even field a second string for defenders of the canon? A group who can keep faith until the anti-Bush hysteria has faded, when the liberal intellectuals can resume their spot in place of the thicked-necked button men who run the joint now?

This bill would not only allow outright federal prosecution of these crimes, it would ensnare thousands of acts within the typically draconian federal sentencing enhancements. So offenses in which a gun is used face prison terms of up to 10 years, and any involving sexual assault could garner life imprisonment. Think “Duke rape case” to remind yourself that this is one of those laws that sounds much better in a fundraising letter than in a courtroom.

So today, the House Democrats voted to remove “equal justice under the law” as one of our nation’s raisons d’être, replace it with a criminal justice system based on sexism and racism, and dramatically increase the prison terms of any who step outside their new lines.

And “liberals” everywhere rejoiced.

Strange and sad times we live in.