Call them extremists and book ’em

There’s a bill stealthily moving through Congress that would allow the nation’s Attorney General to classify pro-life Americans as terrorists. It was backed by impeached Florida judge — now a Democrat Party member of the House of Representatives — Rep. Alcee Hastings.

Even Republican congressmen willing to back the general idea of protecting citizens against “hate crimes” raised concerns about the language of this bill. Thank God they’re reading some of the things they’re voting on in there.

“While the amendment seeks to keep gang members and members of violent groups out of the military, the amendment by its language is much more broad.  Specifically, it confers upon the Attorney General the ability to categorize groups as hate groups, and this sounds an alarm for many of us because of the recent shocking and offensive report released by the Department of Homeland Security which labeled, arguably, a majority of Americans as “extremists.”

“I take extreme offense that the federal government — through a report issued under the authority of a Cabinet-level official — would dare to categorize people who are “dedicated to a single issue, such as opposition or abortion or immigration” as “right-wing extremists” and it begs the question of whether the Attorney General, under Mr. Hastings’ Amendment, can look to the Napolitano report to decide who is an extremist, or can make the same categorization of the majority of Americans as extremists who may then be kept from joining the military, or who may be discharged. 

“The desire to risk one’s life on foreign soil for one’s country may well be considered “extreme.”

Especially to some left wing extremists, to turn around some ideology here.

“I want to state unequivocally that I believe that it is not the intent of this Congress to label pro-lifers, federalism proponents, and pro-immigration enforcement groups and their affiliates as extremists under the bill.  My colleagues on the other side of the aisle should make a strong effort to assuage these concerns and make our intentions clear.  If the intent of this amendment is to go after citizens because of their political views and moral convictions, then the amendment is unconstitutional.”

Good call to Congress, to make their intentions clear. After all, isn’t Washington all about transparency now?