"'Thought Crimes' Bill Advances" by Nat Hentoff (Cato Institute: Commentary)

"'Thought Crimes' Bill Advances" by Nat Hentoff (Cato Institute: Commentary): "Then, regarding a Colorado 'hate crime' law, one of 45 such state laws, Corry wrote: 'When a Colorado gang engaged in an initiation ritual of specifically seeking out a 'white woman' to rape, the Boulder prosecutor declined to pursue 'hate crime' charges.' She was not enough of one of its protected classes.

Corey adds that the state 'hate crime' law - like the newly expanded House of Representatives federal bill - 'does not apply equally' (as the 14th Amendment requires), essentially instead 'criminalizing only politically incorrect thoughts directed against politically incorrect victim categories.'

Whether you're a Republican or Democrat, think hard about what Corry adds: "A government powerful enough to pick and choose which thoughts to prosecute is a government too powerful."

But James Madison, who initially introduced the First Amendment to the Constitution, had previously written to Thomas Jefferson on the passage of the Virginia Statute on Religious Freedom: "We have in this country extinguished forever ... making laws for the human mind." No American, he emphasized later, would be punished for his "thoughts." "