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Hate Crimes in New York

Submitted by Bill St. Clair on Fri, 2003-01-31 03:26.
by Bill St. Clair <bill@billstclair.com>

[This was published in The Libertarian Enterprise]

I heard that the New York senate has passed hate crime legislation. How silly of them. If Peter is alleged to have killed Paul, it makes sense to me that a judge and jury can decide whether that is true beyond a reasonable doubt and whether it is also true beyond a reasonable doubt that Peter was not acting in self defense. I don't see how they can determine why Peter killed Paul, unless they can read minds.

Still, it seems that hate crime legislation is all the rage nowadays, and Mr. Silver will probably pass it on to Governor Pataki, who is already on record as being ready to sign it. So, now that "we" have decided that there is such a thing as a hate crime, let's talk about one of the biggest hate crimes in the history of the nation, the drug laws, and one of the biggest hate crimes in the history of New York, the Rockefeller drug laws.

People who ingest plants and chemicals typically do so in the privacy of their own homes. They do not directly hurt anyone but themselves. The sale of plants and chemicals is typically a transaction between consenting adults. There is no violence, theft, or fraud here. Hence, no crime has taken place. As soon as a police officer breaks into someone's house, and forcibly jails him for one of these non-crimes, the police officer is guilty of assault and kidnapping. As soon as a jury finds him guilty of this non-crime, every juror is guilty of conspiracy to commit kidnapping. As soon as a judge sentences this person, (s)he too is guilty of conspiracy to commit kidnapping. Since they directed the police and courts to commit these crimes, every legislator who voted for the relevant drug law is guilty of conspiracy to commit mass assault and kidnapping. They are all dangerous felons (except the drug user and seller). Their hate has ruined the lives of millions of peaceful Americans.

I am not suggesting that it is a good idea to abuse psychoactive substances. My experience tells me otherwise, in no uncertain terms. But the natural consequences of drug abuse are punishment enough. There is no need to compound personal stupidity with mass societal insanity. End the drug war now. End the hate before America follows Germany's disastrous example of where mass hatred inevitably leads.

* * * * * * * * * * *

Note for non New Yorkers - New York's legislature has two houses, the senate and the assembly. The speaker of the assembly is Sheldon Silver. The temporary president and majority leader of the senate is Joseph L. Bruno. From what I hear on the radio, Mr. Bruno runs the senate, and, even more so, Mr. Silver runs the assembly. New York state law is effectively made by three men, Mr. Silver, Mr. Bruno, and the governor, George Pataki. But this is only what I hear on the radio. I have never visited either house or met any senator or assembly member.

Bill St. Clair writes software, mostly Java and Progress these days. He authors a weblog, titled End the War on Freedom.

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