| Al Gore is generally thought to be more intelligent than his opponent, George W. Bush. Why, then, does he support so many stupid things? An example is the hate crimes legislation over which he criticized Bush in the second Presidential debate. Gore brought up the hideous murder of James Byrd. Bush replied with the obvious common sense answer -- the perpetrators are being put to death after being convicted of old-fashioned first-degree murder. Actually only two were sentenced to death, the third murderer was sentenced to life imprisonment. But the point is what possible good would a hate-crime law do in such a case? Do these big-government liberals really believe that a criminal statute that specifies hatred against some class of people would deter someone from an act of violence? Why not just prosecute people for the real crimes they commit, not some new politically correct crime that promotes a leftwing philosophy of victimization? |