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Originally Posted by Number 10 GI

To further follow up on the abusive power of government, in England there are Hate Speech laws that can get you prison time. Here is an excerpt from WikiPedia explaining the law:

Hate speech laws in England and Wales are found in several statutes. Expressions of hatred toward someone on account of that person's colour, race, disability, nationality (including citizenship), ethnic or national origin, religion, gender reassignment, or sexual orientation is forbidden.[1][2][3][4] Any communication which is threatening or abusive, and is intended to harass, alarm, or distress someone is forbidden.[5] The penalties for hate speech include fines, imprisonment, or both.[6]

The Police and CPS have formulated a definition of hate crimes and hate incidents, with hate speech forming a subset of these. Something is a hate incident if the victim or anyone else think it was motivated by hostility or prejudice based on: disability, race, religion, gender identity or sexual orientation. A hate incident becomes a hate crime if it crosses the boundary of criminality.[7]

Interpretation of the law is pretty wide open to whomever is in power. What if we had this law on the books, which would violate the 1st Amendment, and a sitting president decided that any speech criticizing his/her policies was Hate Speech? There are many people in this country who believe we should have such a law. Power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely. That is why the 2nd Amendment was written into the Constitution.

This might be of interest.

Hate Speech and Hate Crime | Advocacy, Legislation & Issues