How do determine if someone is motivated by hate unless you can read their mind? And why should only specific special interest groups be the beneficiaries of the government's mind-reading abilities?Obama strongly supported the measure, which he dubbed an "important civil rights issue" in a statement late Tuesday urging Congress to approve the bill.
Current law gives national law-enforcement authorities jurisdiction over hate crimes only when directed at individuals on the basis of race, religion, color or national origin, and only when the victim is targeted because he or she is engaged in a federally protected activity, such as voting.
The new measure would expand protections to include gender, sexual orientation, gender identity, or disability of the victim, and would expand help from Washington to local authorities to punish hate crimes.
If I bash a gay guy over the head I'll be charged with a hate crime and it probably won't matter what my true motivation was. He/she/it is part of a protected class. But if a gay guy bashes me over the head because I supported Proposition 8 which banned gay marriage, will he be charged with a hate crime?
Yeah...right.
As I've said before most crimes are hate crimes. The bank robber hates the bank for having more money than he does. The burglar hates the fact that you have stuff that he wants to have or sell. The rapist hates the victim (and probably women in general) because he can't have a normal relationship. You can extend that hate example to just about every crime.
If we're really going to punish people for what they think, I think we better make sure we know what they think rather than pile on punishment based on vague generalizations.
Don't you think?
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