Akin has 26 co-sponsors, all Republicans, most from states that attract large numbers of young men and women to the military: Florida, Georgia, South Carolina, Texas and Virginia. However, while the bill lists several examples of acts against persons and property, none of these happened in a sponsor’s home state. This, and the gray areas, interference and intimidation, do not bode well for the bill.
I understand the most obvious intentions of H.R. 6023, to protect the rights and property of recruiters and recruits. This bill would be a great accomplishment for a conservative Congressman to bring home to his or her district. But I am uncomfortable with those same representatives mistaking peaceful protest as interference or intimidation. A bill such as H.R. 6023 would open the door for the federal courts to make those judgments.
Whatever your political stripes, you have to agree that those who cause injury or damage property should be punished. But there is a reason why these powers, with respect to private property and personal injury, are vested with the states. The states want to set the punishment that fits the crime. They don’t want the federal government to intimidate or interfere.
Contact Stuart Nachbar at http://www.EducatedQuest.com, a blog on education politics, policy and technology or read about his first book, The Sex Ed Chronicle, a novel on education and politics in 1980 New Jersey, at
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