If  hate crimes were in place to stop racism, then tell me why so many so-called “hate crimes” are actually not labeled as hate crimes. Oh, don’t get me wrong, if it’s a white person assaulting a minority, it’s a hate crime. But the other way around? Of course it’s hardly ever labeled as a hate crime.

Cleveland, Ohio. A white man on a moped accidentally bumped into a truck being driven by a black man. He fell over but was not injured. A crowd of 40 white people pulled the black driver from the truck and brutally beat him. One of them climbed in the truck and ran over the driver, killing him. The crowd cheered.

Jacksonville, Florida. A group of four to six white men agreed that they would brutalize the next black person they saw walking down the street. That person turned out to be a mentally disabled 50-year-old, whom they beat and stomped into unconsciousness. He later died of his injuries.

Are you surprised that you’ve never heard of these sickening murders based on racial hatred? You didn’t see saturation coverage on the news. You didn’t hear politicians decrying racism. You didn’t see a livid Jesse Jackson on CNN. Why? Because these acts of brutality didn’t happen exactly as I described above. Oh, they happened, all right. The only thing is, the races of the attackers and victims were reversed. That is, a white man was beaten and then crushed by a mob of 40 black people who were furious that a black man bumped into his truck.

Now, the fact that hate crimes seem to be a one way street in and of itself should be reason enough to repel them from law; however, an ever bigger factor is the fact that hate crimes promote and even encourage racism. How can you say that you can not believe that there is still racism in this country? The fact that there are hate crime laws on the books, prove that racism will be alive for a long time to come. Think about it rationally: If we simply tossed out “hate crime” laws, then the only crimes that people could commit would be crimes against other people, not crimes against other races, religions, etc. A person wouldn’t be committing a crime  against someone of another race, religion, gender, or orientation. Instead, They would be committing a crime against another person, just like them. This simple fact puts the person committing the crime level with the person he is hurting in some form. No more of this, “Well, he robbed my house because he has a deep hatred of black people. It’s a hate crime!” Instead it now becomes, “That man over there robbed my house. Can you charge him with stealing?”

The way the news can portray these crimes now is not helping the racism issue in this country. If anything, it’s encouraging racism. If a Hispanic sees another Hispanic assaulted by a person of a different race on TV, and that person being charged with a hate crime, it might encourage the fact that that particular race must be biased against Hispanics. On the other hand, if you have the crime portrayed as an assault from one human being against another human being, it becomes easier to sympathize with the victim and hate the single person committing the crime. Instead of sympathizing with the victim and begrudging the entire race that the person committing the crime is a part of.

Raid at Elk Lake, Ontario

Why are so many people for continuing the drug war? Honestly, did prohibition work? Of course not. Sure, drinking subsided at first, but then alcohol consumption rose. In addition to that, was the beginning of a high level of organized crime. Kind of like the organized crime that is around today caused by the prohibition of drugs: Drug cartels. What’s the best way to get rid of them? Oh, I know! Arrest them for tax evasi—wait, that won’t work. The actual way to hurt the drug cartels is to legalize drugs; stop what they do best. In fact, simply from the current legalization of marijuana in some states, for medicinal purposes, drug cartels are starting to hurt. Imagine how we could run them straight out of business if we simply took away their way of life.

Why does it seem to be a common thought that if we legalize drugs in this country that everyone will walk around stoned? The people who are interested in doing drugs, are already participating, and these people are going to continue to do drugs anyway. There is no stopping it. Looking at alcohol as an example again, there are many people who do not drink, for whatever reason, even though it is a perfectly legalized activity. The same can be said about drug prohibition. The people who don’t participate in drug-related activities today most likely won’t participate in those activities if they are made legal. Have you ever heard someone say, “No, I don’t want any of your dope because that’s illegal, and we might get in trouble?”

Narcotics smugglers destroying evidence

We the people, of the United States of America spend $6,245,301,475 per year on people in prison due to drug related crimes. Not to mention how much money and resources are used in attempting to catch so-called drug offenders. Just imagine how we could turn that decently sized deficit into a pretty good profit. The United States is passing up a pretty good opportunity to rake in the taxes from the sale of drugs. Now, don’t get me wrong. I’m not for making the taxes on drugs ridiculous, such as they are on tobacco, as a tool to try to persuade the citizens of this country to not do something. I think it is wrong for the government to discourage a behavior through taxes. With that being said, the government does have the right to tax the people, and they should tax drugs and get revenue that way.

Prohibition in the 1920’s didn’t work (that’s why it was repelled), and it continues to be a gigantic failure to this day. The only answer is the legalization of drugs. This will the country money, in the long run, and destroy the fabric that holds the drug cartels together.