This keys off of my post from yesterday, in which I argue that not only is hate-crimes legislation unconstitutional, but it’s also redundant and self-defeating. Not everyone agrees, of course; my friend Tommy Christopher is helping to lobby to expand the House bill to include even more protected classes of victims.

But this is really an endless loop, and that particular effort underscores Jazz Shaw’s point about the 14th Amendment. Let me pose a hypothetical: if someone murdered a white supremacist specifically because of his political beliefs and color of his skin, wouldn’t that also be a hate crime? Shouldn’t they also be protected under this legislation? Or should the state position itself to approve of certain kinds of hate and not others?

Update: Here’s an even better question. What about crimes committed by neighborhood or family feuds? If I murder my next door neighbor because I hate his guts, shouldn’t I be tried with a hate crime?