Here it comes again... parsing hate the liberal way. H.R. 1913, the Local Law Enforcement and Hate Crimes Prevention Act passed recently and now will move to the Senate for consideration. There are many things that are just odd about legislation of this kind but I will take a look at two pieces of this complex issues by doing something that someday might be illegal for me to do and that is question the reality behind the bill. Who is this going to protect and what are they going to be protected from?

For Who

The precept of this bill is that it extends "protections" to groups that need them. Some of the groups that are listed in the bill are groups defining themselves by their race, sexual behaviour, and/or gender identity confusion. Like so many legislation's of this type it is really not very comprehensive. Instead of being inclusive it is very exclusive in nature. I mean if we accept the precept that there are folks in our society that are not protected under current laws it seems only the American thing to do to make sure they get protected. Yet when we look at this bill we see that there are a lot of folks left-off this bill seemingly not deserving of like protections.

Here is a short list of people not included in the bill for protection: the mentally retarded, the deaf, the blind, the mute, those born with physical defects, those with Tourette syndrome, amputees, pregnant women, fat school children. I listed these groups because if anyone in our society needs protections under the law these do. These groups are at risk also of not always being able to defend themselves? So shouldn't one think that they too should be listed in this bill?

If we are talking about violent crime against the groups listed in HR 1913 how can we morally justify "special" protection for a perfectly healthy and normal man who participates in homosexual activity being murdered by someone who "hates" such behaviour, while at the same-time give no "special" protection to a pregnant woman who is killed and her baby cut from her stomach by someone who "hates" her because she can have babies while they can not?

Sadly both of these things happen in our society and this bill seems to say it's OK to kill that pregnant woman and cut her baby out of her stomach but it is not OK to kill a strong, healthy man ... Right? No that is not correct, any rational person realizes that both perpetrators would rightly be prosecuted equally under currently existing laws. Both of these individuals are already protected under our laws and only a fool would suggest otherwise. The reality is, however this bill has nothing to do with protecting anyone from violent crime but has everything to do with controlling individual thoughts, feelings and beliefs.

From What

HR 1913 is a bill fashioned after several legislation's that have already passed in other countries like Sweden and Canada. In both of these nations once the bills passed the political elites immediately began using these laws to attack and destroy those who speak out on issues they personally care about but are considered to be not politically correct. In Sweden a pastor was arrested and sent to jail for simply teaching passages from the Old and New Testaments that are critical of homosexual behaviour. In Canada a conservative thinker and author was prosecuted for his writings suggesting that many of the traditions and beliefs taught in Islam are discriminatory against some races and religions. Now both of these prosecutions were overturned but the point of this type of legislation is not to send people to jail but instead to destroy people financially and silence them politically.

Imagine if you will a time in the United States were you say or write something about your political or religious beliefs and are then prosecuted for what you said or wrote. Imagine how expensive it would be for you to defend yourself against the federal government and its resources. If you manage to get out from under the charge you will either be bankrupt or so deeply in debt that your family would never be the same. Your future and the future of your children would be forever changed. There is not doubt this will have a dampening effect on our freedom of speech and our freedom of religion in the nation.

Primarily conservative or religious thought and speech will be under attack. We will only be allowed to think, feel and believe what the government allows us to think, feel and believe. The reality is, the very definition of Liberty will forever be changed. Liberty will not be the right to think, feel and believe what we want. Liberty will become the right to abort our unborn children and our right to send dirty or sexy e-mail without our friends and family finding out. Laws like this are intended to drive our Liberties in to back allies and dark basements. the days of practicing our Liberties openly in the light of day will be over.