Considered Opinion: Hate Crimes

It seems like a bizarre hypocrisy to assume that only some crimes can be deemed to be motivated by “hate.” Any crime, by its very nature of being an unlawful act, seems to be motivated by hate for someone or something. Establishing a set of regulations that punishes crimes that are supposedly based on the desire to attack only specific, and, as Harel and Parchomovsky imply, minority groups codifies differences between groups in a country that claims equality for everyone. This effectively drives people farther apart, as certain groups are deemed to need special treatment, instead of bringing them together. Also, the fact that only crimes against the “vulnerable groups” as defined in the essay “On Hate and Equality” deserve the right to be “hate crimes” seems absurd and essentially nullifies the authors’ arguments.

             According to the authors’ Fair Protection Paradigm, the act of a crime being perpetrated against a member of the majority by a member a minority group could never be considered a hate crime. In the authors’ eyes the majority is never seen as being a vulnerable class. This seems to be the authors’ view even in specific cases where the roles of majority and minority are reversed in a situation when a crime takes place (i.e. a white male in a predominantly black neighborhood). Following this idea it is entirely possible for a crime that is motivated solely by another’s belonging to a certain group to go by with a lesser punishment and avoid hate crime treatment. All hate crime regulations force people to prove that the crime was not based solely on hate for another group of people. This, more often than not, is forcing people to prove a negative; something that a decent system of justice does not ask people to do.  

Preliminary Opinion: Economic Justice

The gaps between the classes in America are not fair. The problem, however, goes deeper than the idea of the rich as evil simply because they have money and the notion that the poor deserve their plight. If we had a society where there was an absolute sense of equal opportunity for its citizens then I would say that the class gaps were fair, but as it stands we only have relative equal opportunity. The class standing of a person should reflect what they have put into their lives and society.

            Fixing the injustice of these class gaps would take well over a page to explain, but two main things need to happen before any progress can be made toward closing the gaps. The start of any fix would lie in the education of the people of this country. Fixing the state of education would go a long way to fixing the gaps between economic classes. A better educated populace would be better for the economy, people would be able to live fuller lives, and the gaps between the classes would start to close.   

            The second issue needs to be a greater embrace of capitalism. Not an overly government managed farce of capital, but truly free markets. Of course, this system will still result in differing economic classes, but it is the only economic system that does not end in equal poverty for everyone. A truly capitalistic society is fair because each person will receive back in accordance to what was contributed. Society would be built on merit and achievement instead of some unquantifiable idea of need. 

Preliminary Opinion: Iraq War

At this point in time it seems that the pros of ceasing military operations in Iraq now outweigh the cons. With this change I would advocate for the removal of US troops to take place as soon as possible. In being both ill-conceived and ill-executed the war has been a drain of resources and an ever-present stain on the conscience of most Americans. The Bush administration and the Iraq war have also led America down a path that is morally reprehensible in their efforts to justify the use of a preemptive strike.

            With Iraq slowly stabilizing the pros for an immediate troop withdrawal are beginning to outweigh anything that would fill the con column. The first thing would be the immediate saving of American lives. Not far from that would be the saving of American resources from no longer needing to fund the war. That money could then be saved or used to fund projects here at home. Another pro would be an improved image of America throughout the world. This war has made us extremely unpopular and bringing an end to it would do wonders to improve the image of the US abroad. While also controversial, the immediate withdrawal of troops from Iraq would free up resources to aid in the deteriorating situation in Afghanistan.

The major factor against immediate troop withdrawal is the notion that without the US presence in Iraq the country would collapse into an outright civil war. This danger, while still a possibility, has been greatly lessened. With time and the surge of more troops the US has finally managed to train a half-decent Iraqi army and the government is doing a better job of governing the nation.