“…We also got no new comments. So I’ve come to the conclusion that these are my own private musings….” Please don’t assume few are reading. Might just mean you have expressed our (i.e. the readers) thoughts no additional comments could improve on your writing.

Thomas Sowell has an interesting piece out this morning (http://townhall.com/columnists/ThomasSowell/2009/07/28/disaster_in_the_making) on how Obama is not leading us in a post racial society; quite the opposite. He is inciting worse race relations. Beck echoes the same theme where, on page 104 as one example, he talks about how future generations will look back at what we are doing today and ask the very rationale question – “Did you not see it coming?” I have made the same statement in the context of slavery being a dark segment of our history. Today we look back at that and ask, “How could they have been confused about that?” I fully expect that future generations will look back at us and ask, “How could they not see the right answer to the abortion issue?” I also have suggested that slavery, like abortion, is not a political issue. It is a moral issue. And I confess to some concern. We do not act as moral individuals far too often, and as a result, not as a moral society.

Beck addresses that as well. I really like the quote he has from Arthur Ashe where he observes that the 1972 race riots in LA were not “us”. He laments that the black society was one of dignity and morality that wanted fairness for everyone. He further observes that such dignity has morphed into retribution and retaliation; revenge, not justice. I had not seen it articulated that way before, but it clarified my thinking on the subject.

I also like his concluding sentiment where he tells the story of Ben Franklin and George Washington at the signing of the Constitution in 1787. Franklin noted that the back of Washington’s chair had rays of sunshine in its styling and he had wondered if it represented a setting or rising sun. He concluded that it was rising. Maybe that’s what is wrong with California. The sun is always setting on California.

So my vote is a thumbs-up. Worth the very short time it takes to read. It puts a lot of context around current events, and makes a strong call to action before it is too late. And maybe I will pay a little more attention to his TV show.

I understand and align with your view on the need to avoid empowering “thought police”, however I disagree your basic thesis. Every crime is not a crime of hate. Breaking and entering into a house is not necessarily a product of hate. A fight in a bar is not always the result of hate for the other party, it can often be an impulsive reaction to an imagined slight, fueled by too much alcohol. Our society has long deemed motive as an indicator of the level of punishment. Premeditated murder has much stronger sentences than manslaughter. In both cases someone is killed, but the thought behind the murder differs.

Again, our society has decided that crimes fueled by hate deserve more severe punishment than those of emotion. The government makes a decision on the apparent motive, and a jury of ones peers (I know it is rarely made up of ones peers) determines if the evidence fits the charge. In this simple case, this act of violence was not premeditated, nor was it enacted for any other reason than fear and hate of something different. Let the punishment fit the standard of the law.