(John McCann, Headline USA) A bill is making its way through the House Judiciary committee that could have a huge impact on American institutions, granting federal enforcement agencies the power to classify “hate crimes” as “domestic terrorism.”
Under H.R. 350, or the Domestic Terrorism Prevention Act, the federal government would have full discretion on what classifies as a “hate crime,” according to the Federalist. The bill would also allow federal agents to spy on Americans they consider domestic threats, as well as investigate and prosecute them.
The bill would create new domestic terrorism units within the FBI, the Justice Department, and Homeland Security. The goal of these units would be to: “ensure that such programs include training and resources to assist…law enforcement agencies in understanding, detecting, deterring, and investigating acts of domestic terrorism and White supremacist and neo-Nazi infiltration of law enforcement and corrections agencies.”
Also, local law-enforcement and military personnel who fail to enforce the will of these new rules, may find themselves purged and replaced by those who are sufficiently loyal. Under the proposed bill, a federal “task force” “would be created to analyze and combat White supremacist and neo-Nazi infiltration of the uniformed services and Federal law enforcement agencies,” reported the Federalist.
Proponents of the bill argue that in the wake of the Jan. 6 Capitol protests, stronger measures must be taken against domestic threats, and are using the event as a means to enlarge government and its scope of control on the public.
“In the wake of the domestic terrorist attack on our Capitol two weeks ago, it is painfully clear that the current approach to addressing the real and persistent threat posed by white nationalism and similar ideologies is not working,” Judiciary Chairman Jerry Nadler, a Democrat, said at the time in pushing the bogus narrative that J6 was well-planned and orchestrated at the highest levels.
Opponents argue that the bill would be a dangerous expansion of the domestic surveillance state, and would threaten civil liberties and free expression. If government bureaucrats have the final say in what is a “hate crime” or “domestic terrorism,” what is stopping them from using those labels on those critical of government policies? Parents protesting critical race theory at school board meetings, for example.
The bill and its supporters cite incidences like the Capitol protests and the Kyle Rittenhouse shootings as examples of alleged right-wing extremism, but seem to ignore crimes committed by Antifa and similarly leftist-aligned groups.
This uneven ratio gives credence to the argument that this bill would allow political targeting and persecution of one distinct ideological faction.
