Because federal hate crime laws criminalize thoughts, they are incompatible with a free society.
About this quote
- What does it mean?
- Federal hate‑crime laws punish thoughts, which conflicts with a truly free society.
- In plain terms
- Hate‑crime laws criminalize thoughts, harming freedom.
- What can you take from it?
- Question laws that punish belief rather than action.
Where it applies
Putting it to work
Questions to consider
- Should thoughts be protected as speech?
- Where is the line between belief and harmful action?
Another view
Some argue that hate‑crime statutes protect vulnerable groups from targeted violence.
More from Ron Paul
Freedom is not defined by safety. Freedom is defined by the ability of citizens to live without government interference. Government cannot create a world witho…
Permalink to quote #13 The original American patriots were those individuals brave enough to resist with force the oppressive power of King George. I accept the definition of patriot…
Permalink to quote #15 Racism is simply an ugly form of collectivism, the mindset that views humans strictly as members of groups rather than individuals. Racists believe that all in…
Permalink to quote #12
Related quotes
Whatever may have been the opinion of the President at one time as to 'good faith requiring the security of the freemen in their liberty and their property,' i…
Andrew JohnsonAndrew Johnson quote #35 Penalties for opinion, or at least for its expression, still exist by law; and their enforcement is not, even in these times, so unexampled as to make it at al…
John Stuart MillJohn Stuart Mill quote #37 Sometimes people mistake the way I talk for what I am thinking.
Idi AminIdi Amin quote #1