The conservatives' opposition to the recently passed federal hate crimes legislation is as ignorant as it could possibly be, not to mention agenda-driven.

Hate crimes are acts of terrorism. Their purpose is not merely to victimize some unfortunate individual or individuals who find themselves in the wrong place at the wrong time; rather, it is to spread fear among the populace - which is what terrorists attempt to do.

When the first violent attacks against Jews by Bavarian brownshirts occurred under the newly installed Hitler Nazi regime in 1933, the immediate effect was to terrorize and intimidate a whole segment of the German population.

The Cardinal of Munich at the time stated, "Jews can help themselves," but, in reality, the lack of protected legal status left Jews as a whole completely vulnerable to ethnically targeted terrorism.

Normally, any sort of increased penalties against criminals would be applauded by law-and-order conservatives. In this case, the argument voiced by the Fox News pundits and Republican House minority leader John Boehner, speaking for his party, is this is tantamount to punishing people for what they are thinking.

Apparently, they are unfamiliar with the concept premeditated murder is first-degree murder - meaning, we hold crimes that are thought out in advance to be at an elevated level of heinousness.

All I can figure is this is yet another example of conservatives opposing whatever President Obama is for, or else their own thinking is at least in some measure aligned with those who commit hate crimes. It is possible this legislation hits too close to home for them.

Thorn Randall

Libertyville