I love Thanksgiving.  It is uniquely American and uniquely right.  We celebrate God and Country and enjoy family time absent the stress and distraction of the more commercialized holidays.  There is no need to deconstruct “Jesus Clause” or explain to our children that our Lord and Savior rising from the grave has nothing to do with eggs and bunnies.  Who came up with that bunny laying egg thing anyway?

Recently, I visited with a man from Mexico who is in the U.S. legally, on a work assignment for a large corporation.  He was telling me how much he was looking forward to his first American Thanksgiving.  He will celebrate with friends either at their home or the others’.  I asked about the menu.  “Roast turkey with all of the trimmings” he quickly replied with a contagious enthusiasm.  This, from a man whose favorite staple is tamales.  He has never tasted a real roasted turkey, the American way.  I was going to ask about deep frying it…next year, I thought.

His simple menu selection and his use of the word “trimmings” flooded my mind instantly with thoughts about that unique dish, roasted Turkey.  We have celebrated Thanksgiving and that fine tryptophane laden meat at different times, with friends from Germany and friends from Russia.  It is always great to talk about the other traditions that are uniquely American, and more than just food.

I remember water skiing with friends from Europe on the amazing Lake of the Ozarks.  We rented a boat, filled a cooler with all kinds of libations, and enjoyed the heck out of a sunny July day.  As we sat quietly taking a break from the action and taking note of all the beautiful lakefront homes, they began lamenting how this would never be allowed in Europe.

In Europe, if you tried to put a motorized boat on a lake, the environmentalists would decry the degredation to the environment and pass laws to stop you.  If you tried to build a house on a lake, the communists would insist that the land belonged to all of the people and no one privately.  They went on, but the point should be clear.  In America, we are defined by putting individual rights first, starting with the Pilgrim’s quest for a place in which religious worship was every man’s exclusive domain.  These rights extend far beyond that to include the individual’s right to own land and be secure in that land and enjoy it for his or her own use.  Our uniquely American Government is designed on “negative rights”, or the right to be free FROM government, as opposed to the positive rights the socialists pursuit as to be given BY government.

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“Workers of the World Unite”

Karl Marx, the infamous German political philosopher had a vision.  Marx, together with Joseph Engels, predicted and even called for the dismantling of capitalist economic systems worldwide into a socialist and ultimately classless communist world.  24thState will be asking the question of the late Mr. Marx, “How is that working out for you?”

In a series of columns, we will expose the 5th column in the United States.  We will name names and expose the ties from David Axelrod, who just visited St. Louis referring to some GOP presidential contenders as “nutty folks,” to active Marxists and communist party loyalists in Congress and even the Missouri General Assembly.  We will expose their plans and how even their favorite Republican member of Congress (yes, they have one) works to fulfill them.

If we contemplate for a second, whether it is realistic to assume that the Marxists quit being Marxists, in Russia, China and even the U.S., can we assume that the workers of the world decided to not unite?  Did they pack up their tents and go home?  Are Russian and Chinese leaders relinquishing power and creating new constitutional republics?  Did the Communist Party USA shut their doors or just change their tactics? The answers to these questions are unquestionably obvious but uncomfortable to contemplate.

First published in 1848, the Manifesto had ten very specific goals (briefly examine their progress in the U.S. here).  The most alarming tenet however, may be the assertion that communism will never really work until the entire world is communist.  In other words, the true believers have a duty to spread it.  What then is the duty of those opposed to it?  What is IT?

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There are some very interesting numbers coming out of Alabama since their passing landmark immigration reform in June. How about decreasing unemployment and increasing passport applications?  Yes, Mexican nationals are overwhelming passport offices to secure passage for themselves and their “anchor” children BACK to Mexico.

While radical leftist groups have joined with the Obama Administration Justice Department to assail Alabama for doing locally the job the Feds refuse to do, common sense law and order types now have numbers to show who is right.

Teresa Ferguson is a Mama Grizzly who had never been involved in politics until she singularly took on the challenge of ending the devastating effects of illegal immigration in her community.  After getting hit and run by an illegal in a town in which the majority of kindergarteners are children of illegals and brothels and methamphetamine are rampant, she decided to take action.  She began by reaching out to candidates for statewide office, insisting they visit her county to see the damage first hand.

One candidate for governor actually took an entire day out of his schedule to visit Marshall County.  Alabamians now call the responsive candidate Governor Bentley.  He signed the legislation in June.  Another lawmaker who visited with Mrs. Ferguson, State Senator Scott Beason called on Alabamians to get serious and “empty the clip” on the issue.  He joined State Representative Micky Hammon in passing HB56, the most comprehensive, common sense illegal immigration law in the country.  The law, despite being enjoined by the courts, has nevertheless produced amazing results yet to be reported anywhere.

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Congressman Wiener is in a tough spot.  It is a spot of his own making, but it is tough.  He now has some serious thinking to do, beyond his Congressional seat.  He certainly should resign, and not just because Republicans have been run out for lesser offenses, but because he is compromised.  Even voters who would vote for a man as smug, arrogant and malicious as Mr. Wiener deserve good representation.  I do not think they can have it from him.   However, should he decide to remain in office and take his chances with voters in 2012, he needs to answer some more questions and then take a new stand without question.

As a lawmaker, I found myself pulled into issues I never expected.  One issue really stuck with me.  There was a young man raised in relative affluence, groomed to take over  his father’s dental practice.  He went away to the best schools, studied hard, made the grades, and picked up a habit.  Shortly after returning home, he went to meet a 13 year old girl for sex.  The girl turned out to be a cyberdetective.  The cop was hired in part due to a funding program I created.  The laws used to prosecute and sentence him were also enhanced through my legislation.  His arrest was not something that I celebrated.  I found it really sad.   It made a chilling point that I make anytime I speak at the University level or elsewhere;  The only thing possibly worse than your child becoming the victim of a predator is your child becoming the predator.   Mr. Weiner is an addict, bent on a destructive path from which he could not extricate himself.  I cannot celebrate this either.  This is sad.

I was drawn to the issue of stopping sexual predators because Bill O’Reilly once challenged our state saying “Missouri is a state that does not care about kids”.  He was referencing the critical Megan’s Law and Jessica’s Law recommendations and the fact that Missouri scored so poorly in adopting them.  The words resonated for me because my brother, a probation officer for sexual predators often told me the frustrating stories of people our state turns loose.  So, having that wonderful honor of being a public servant, and  ability to do something about it.  I went to work.  Congressman Wiener should too.

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The unsightly film on our “clean” dishes had become a source of great frustration in our household.  Dish washing was the job of my daughter and she was evidently was really slacking off.  We worked with her on critical strategies like pre-washing, proper loading technique and the importance of rinse aids.  Still, we found that the dishes usually had to be washed at least twice and with increasing amounts of detergent.  In this lousy economy and runaway food and fuel inflation, I was using 50% more Cascade detergent and running twice as many loads.  This deal worked out great for the the water and electric utilities, and especially for P&G (Proctor and Gamble) but not so well for us.

As a conservative, I believe there is a right way and a wrong way to do just about anything from how to install toilet paper to what ingredients are key to a product.  That makes me a consummate label reader. So one day I noticed that Cascade was “phosphate free”.  That struck me as really odd because I dutifully inject that naturally occurring element into the ecosystem every time I use my Miracle Grow “Bloom-booster” plant food.  So how could something that is good for plants be evil for the environment?

I asked my friend Kat, who is a full time environmental activist and I challenged her. I am now using at least twice as much water and electricity, not to mention time as I spent before on clean dishes.  She toed the party line, that too much phosphates in sewer systems somehow creates too much algae which disrupts ecosystems.

So I explained my situation and the fact that a huge corporation about which she should be suspicious of before me, was making out like bandits. I asked her, “Do you realize you are working for the man?”  “What?” She asked. The irony was quite amusing.

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Conservatives, as all political factions do from time to time, are having a family squabble involving the annual Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC).  It appears to be especially cantankerous this year.  The rub pertains to the increasing presence of gay-Republicans and the degree to which event organizers embrace or shun them.  Our country is in trouble.  The stakes are high.  Conservatives need to work together because they are right.  I offer a humble suggestion.  Conservatives need to check their hyphens at the door.

I attended my first CPAC in 1995.  It was amazing.  Spirits were high and guards were down as the who’s who’s in conservatism rubbed elbows with bright eyed young activists like me.  There were Christian-conservatives, libertarian-conservatives, black-conservatives Asian-conservatives and almost every group one could imagine in attendance.  All that mattered was that we were all patriots.

On the 100^th Anniversary of President Reagan’s birth, it is fitting that we remember why conservatism peaked under his leadership.  His style was elegant in its simplicity, and had a common theme that I love. You are uniquely blessed to have been born an American.  Not better, just blessed.  Every individual is valuable in God’s eyes.  Freedom is your birth right, join me in its cause.  If you are with me, great.  If not, get out of the way.   I think he would have an answer for the gay controversy at CPAC.

The Gipper was once challenged for taking campaign contributions from gays.  The challenger hoped to separate him from his evangelical support on account of his gay support.  He was challenged whether the contributions showed he agreed with the gays views.  He responded that their contributions showed they must agree with his views.  So it is with CPAC.  The attendance of ticket buying gays at CPAC shows that they support the CPAC views.

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So the latest disappointing news from the Republican leadership in Congress comes from Majority Whip in waiting, Eric Cantor.  As Whip, Congressman Cantor carries the message of the caucus.  So what does he think about healthcare?  Does he support full repeal of Obamacare?  Does he share the view of most Americans that the federal government should get back into its Constitutional cage and get out of health care, education, mohair subsidies and a host of other spheres of American life over which they should have zero sway?  Nope!  Sadly, Congressman Cantor has just affirmed our worst fear.  He thinks the federal government should absolutely be regulating health care and guaranteeing Americans “free stuff”.

I suppose the Congressman fancies himself a limited government fiscal conservative.  Ok.  What does that mean?  I thought it meant that the federal government should handle basic things like fighting wars and coining money (and please coin way less than you are).  Everything else should be left to the “several states”.

But hey, at least the Republican leadership wants to give us less free stuff than the Democrats.  Here is what Cantor says about Obamacare:

“We too don’t want to accept any insurance company’s denial of someone and coverage for that person because he or she might have a pre-existing condition,” he said. “Likewise we want to make sure that someone of your age has the ability to access affordable care if it’s under your parent’s plan or elsewhere.”

So, the Democrat are promising a chicken in every pot and the Republicans are promising a nice broth.  Great message guys.   Certainly your pollsters really dug deep for that.

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Chilling thought for the day.  Recall the election of 1948, when the  Republican Party’s heavily-favored, moderate and uninspiring nominee lost to Truman in a race in which he was heavily favored to win.  The tragedy is not that the Chicago Tribune got the headline wrong, but that the American people lost either way given the choice between a left-leaning Republican and a slightly right-leaning Democrat.  To see how much we have learned from history, here is a pop quiz.

If you cannot answer any of the following questions, you are ill-prepared for 2012.

Leading up to the 1996 Presidential election, anytime Republicans were gathered, from Young Republicans to State Committees, anywhere in the Country, including Kansas, one candidate was the hands down favorite, usually with double the votes of the second pick.

Who was the darling of the Republican Party in 1996?

(hint: Pat Buchanan was usually second)

In 1964, Barry Goldwater won a primary victory defeating among others, Governor George Romney.

What book is credited with helping the Conservative Goldwater break the grip of the moderate wing that opposed him?

Who was the second, and only other Republican in the last century to defy the statist wing of the Republican Party and wrest the Presidential nomination?

In her book A Choice Not an Echo (1964), Phyllis Schlafly names the dates, places and attendees of the meetings as she details how the Republican Presidential nominees are always hand-picked by a small, elite cadre’ thus relegating loyal Republican activists to “echoing” the pre-selection rather than exercising their birthright “choice”.   The housewife-turned-activist Schlafly, was horrified to see the kingmakers actively manipulating the process in an attempt to steal the nomination away from the legitimate Republican popular candidate, Barry Goldwater.  She rushed tens of thousands of copies of her book to Convention delegates who then stood with Goldwater to win the battle, if not the war.

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Earlier today, I urged people to vote for the GOP, even people they see as RINOs who show strong qualities as LiGIEs (Limited Government Intervention in the Economy).  I urged them to drag their friends too, as a victory in the House creates gridlock, but a victory in the Senate stops the judges.

Drew Kurlowski (A protege’ of Larry Sabato), has predicted a Senate surprise will lead to a GOP taking the reins there.  He uses historical data to back up that assertion.

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No matter what happens on November 2^nd, 2010 will be the year that conservatives won.  Patriotic conservatives of all flavors, have risen up in extraordinary ways, in every corner of the country.  It appears all but certain that Speaker Nancy Pelosi will be dethroned. Dick Morris even predicts as many as 100 new Republican Congressmen giving many people really high expectations for the new Congress.

Others fear that for all their trouble from organizing, holding rallies and knocking on doors, they will only replace the leftist Democrats with RINO Republicans who will squander the victory.  Will we get Speaker Boehner, or a fresh new conservative leader who will truly take a big stick to big government.   A closer look at the numbers should give conservatives reason to be really excited and also a cause for continued resolve.

If you want a conservative Congress, you have to ask yourself just what kind of conservative are you after.  Drew Kurlowski, a Ph.D. candidate at the University of Missouri who studies voting behavior and partisanship, referred me to a dataset popular with political science academics called DW-Nominate.  It is a tremendous resource that meticulously compiles the voting records of the Congress going back to the 1st Congress.  If you want to know who George Washington’s favorite conservative was, this is your site.  Moreover, they settled on a definition of “conservative” that is tremendously useful.  Move over “fiscal conservative” and “social conservative” and make room for (limited) “government intervention in the economy”.  Let’s call it L’GIE.  So who are the liggies?

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“People everywhere enjoy believing things that they know are not true. It spares them the ordeal of thinking for themselves and taking responsibility for what they know.”

Brooks Atkinson

It is trite to say that things often are not what they seem, but sometimes they are so much “not what they seem” that discovery creates in the newly informed, initial disbelief.  This disbelief will sometimes be followed by shock and then outrage and then inertia resulting from a general disgust.   That is why it is so immensely encouraging to this activist, that so many patriots are rising up to “take responsibility for what they know.”  Hopefully, enough readers will latch onto this issue and take action both nationally and locally to head of a bad combination of injustices that hurt our neighbors individually and all of us in the end.  The issue is modern indentured servitude that supports a ponzi scheme to on the backs of young tradesmen that is doomed to collapse.

The Wall Street Journal opined Wednesday in an article entitled “Crony Contracts” that  “There’s almost a direct correlation these days between the Obama Administration’s complaints about “special interests” and its own fealty to such interests. Consider its latest decree that federal contractors must be union shops.”  While fealty to unions is a troubling issue to many, what underlies the fealty is much more sinister.

To the casual observer, Democrat attempts to steer all federal construction work to union contractors is the same as Republicans rewarding non-union contractors.  The Republican position is in fact, that all workers get a shot to work as long as their employer proffers the lowest, best bid without regard to union status.  Clinton first wrote the executive order to steer federal construction work to union contractors.  Bush reversed the policy, and Obama has reinstated it.  What most people never see is the true motive behind this policy of reserving public work for union members only using the union-only PLA.

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The late Robert Brewster Loudon, my father, departed this World, just two years ago.  While I hated to lose and deeply miss him, I am so glad he has not had to see what is happening to his Country.  You see, his story is like so many from the Greatest Generation although rather unique.  He survived the Great Depression.  He was drafted into World War II, and spared combat when the Japanese surrendered.  His story is unlike many because in the history of this Country, few people loved the American automobile like my father.

My father did hands on, ground up restorations on more classic cars than I can count.  He personally founded many car clubs over the years and was a regular at national swap meets and the big annual gatherings.  His personal favorite was always the Kenosha, Wisconsin gathering of the defunct company, American Motors Corporation.  He was pretty widely published and also recognized as one of the best professional car appraisers.  He even raced semi-pro for the SCCA and once set a speed record at Daytona.  He wrote a book on cars that he never published.  I will never forget where the happy tale turns bittersweet.  The man, who ALWAYS believed in buying American, announced to his four boys that he had bought all of us something that will last forever, and always grow in value-General Motors common stock.

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Nashville, TN:  As Sarah Palin spoke to the standing room only, sell out crowd at Tea Party convention, activists from across the nation were putting together the finishing touches on a strategy to channel the activism in an entirely new way.  The result is Ensuring Liberty, a 501(c)4 and affiliated PAC.

Many pundits debated the lessons from the the New York “23rd race” and the heralded defeat of Dede Scozzafava and subsequent loss of Doug Hoffman.  A couple things were clear.  The Club for Growth money that went to Hoffman was not enough to bring home a winner.  It was equally obvious from the loss, that the national outpouring of grassroots support from Tea Party activists all over the Country was not enough.

What was clear to those closer to the campaign was that all of the assistance poured into a flawed operation could not put humpty dumpty together.  An axiom from business holds that before you automate a process you must first perfect that process.  The cash and volunteer support were in effect the automation that the Hoffman campaign desperately needed.  The “machine” however, lacked the fine tuning so that most of the “inputs” ended up as waste and proportionally little product flowed out of the campaign apparatus.

Every campaign needs at least two critical element pairings; campaign and money or campaign and people.  Hoffman had plenty of money and people but too little campaign.  Next time, the Tea Party supported candidates will have all three elements.  Enter, the Ensuring Liberty PAC.

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On the list of insane public policy moves we have come to expect from the current administration, Cap and Tax, Obamacare and Union Card Check, a fourth has garnered relatively little attention, although the implications for all Americans may be among the most far-reaching.  The recurring theme is centralized control.

On Monday, the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California will host a rare Congressional “Field Hearing“.  A Congressional delegation will venture out of the beltway and actually devote time to a problem in our country.  Better yet, they will be listening to real citizens.  Sort of.

At issue is what residents are calling a government-made drought in the Central and San Joaquin Valleys of California.   Legal and environmental regulations in the Endangered Species Act has resulted in the diversion of 200 billion gallons of water from the agricultural heartland of California into the Ocean.  According to California farmer Rose Corona,

“Potentially over $20 billion of California’s $43 billion of agricultural revenue could be decimated in America’s greatest breadbasket as farmers lose their farms and residents are forced to import food from China. While the solutions are not simple, local government officials are not even able to attempt them.”

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The polls have closed, the votes are counted, and Massachusetts voters have sent the “Scott heard ’round the World”.  All day long, pundits have been giving their assessment regarding why Scott Brown would win.  All day long, too many of these pundits have proven that they still have not learned to listen to the clear message being sent by the American people.

Like rats fleeing a sinking ship Democrat pundits have been blaming Coakley for running a failed campaign.  While it is true that the path to victory checklist laid out by her strategists probably did not include insulting Catholics and Red Sox fans, to blame a Democrat for losing in the bluest blue state in this environment is a convenient oversimplification.  Further, it is incredibly insulting for the political class to dismiss the voters as being that petty.

For their part, Republicans who argued that it is not about Coakley’s gaffs offered up disturbingly similar alternative explanations.  Mitt Romney speaking on Fox news said it was:

Overwhelmingly an outpouring of support for Scott Brown and his vision”.

No, it is not about Scott Brown.  Or his vision.

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As the Tea Party movement approaches its first “birthday”, the leadership is taking it to new levels.  The metamorphosis, which has been deliciously organic, has seen it go from street protests, to active demonstrations to serious political action.  All along the way, Big Media and Big Political Parties have failed to truly grasp what it is all about.  As Missouri lawmaker, Chris Kelly once famously said to another during Floor debate, “I can explain it to you, but I cannot understand it for you”.

At the end of the month, Richard Viguerie — legendary conservative activist, direct response fundraising pioneer, and currently chairman of ConservativeHQ.com — will deliver the keynote speech at the inaugural Leadership Tea Party training event to be held at the Dallas-Fort Worth Airport Westin Hotel.  In addition to Mr. Viguerie’s keynote speech delivered on Friday night January 29, the event will consist of 11 sessions of grassroots leadership training over 14 hours on Saturday and Sunday, January 30-31. Mr. Viguerie’s speech is free and open to both the press and the public, though a limited number of seats are available. (You can request a ticket online here .)

Viguerie, who was hired by William F. Buckley Jr. in 1962 as the director of Young Americans for Freedom, worked for the Goldwater campaign in 1964, pioneered the direct response fund raising techniques that financed the 1980 election of Ronald Reagan, and has been a key leader in the movement for limited government for decades.  Tea Party activists of varying levels of political experience, most rigorously eschewing party labels, are hungry to learn the tactics to win on the political battlefield.  Like latter day militia men, the Tea Party activists have seen the whites of the eyes of the red coats reds, and they are trading their microsoft office suite applications for html and eblogger and are training in the dark political arts for the battle that will shape their Country for the sake of their children.

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It is axiomatic that if you do not know your rights it is difficult to exercise them.  Celebrating Bill of Rights Day is one way to create a broader understanding of this critical piece of the American fabric.  So if you are reading this post, you are likely interested in knowing what you can do.  In light of the monumental efforts of this Congress to grow the Federal government and, in the process, reduce our rights, all freedom loving Americans should consider doing something special to celebrate this Day.

December 15^th, is the anniversary of the 1791 ratification. The brilliance of the Bill of Rights, is that it was not merely an enumeration of specific freedoms, but it was a list of restraints on the government that elevated individual liberties to a level unique in the World.  It built on a uniquely western principle that certain individual rights were given by God himself and that no government could legitimately encroach on them.

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The symbol of our judicial system is the blind folded lady liberty holding the scales of justice in her hands.  In St. Louis County it appears she may be peeking.

On October 9th, 2000, Patricia Redington, a newly appointed St. Louis County Counselor showed such dedication to her job, that she opened the office on the Columbus Day holiday in order to file assault charges against Republican candidate Bill Federer.  This is in contrast to the way she handles the, typical case and the way she is handling the case of Democrat SEIU members pounding a businessman.   St. Louis area patriots smell a rat and show no signs of letting up until justice is served.

Realizing that workers can lose their initial zeal for their jobs, we can understand why Counselor Redington now says that despite what she did for Federer, her typical time to get charges written up and filed is six to eight weeks.  That is unfortunate for Federer who had an election in four weeks and might have appreciated a delay.  He lost his election as voters had to choose between throwing out Gephart and voting in a guy under a legal cloud and media scrutiny.   The respected author, historian and family man just might be mentally unstable considering he had in fact, been charged with a crime.  Redington, by the way, is a Democrat.

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Just because you have a gun, you do not necessarily need to shoot it.  Just because you have a vote in Congress does not mean you need to grab power.

While both Parties have their internal battles, Republicans who are wondering why their numbers are waning need look no farther than the current health care debate for clues.  When Democrats roll out a Federal takeover of private health insurance, the Republican response should not be less of a government takeover, it should be a total federal government withdrawl from regulating private health insurance.  The point is simple, although lost on many.

When we think about insurance in our lives, from life, home, auto, professional liability and health, which one is the biggest source on consternation?  Guess what?  Health insurance is the only one in which the federal government has significantly intruded.  Even that is currently regulated at the State level.  However, the many Federal government restrictions that complicate the health insurance marketplace are the primary reason competition cannot thrive.

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Henry Hill: You know, we always called each other good fellas. Like you said to, uh, somebody, :You’re gonna like this guy. He’s all right. He’s a good fella. He’s one of us.: You understand? We were good fellas. Wiseguys. See, it’s the highest honor they can give you. It means you belong to a family and crew. It means that nobody can f#@% around with you. It also means you could f#@%  around with anybody just as long as they aren’t also a member. It’s like a license to steal. It’s a license to do ANYTHING. As far as Jimmy was concerned with Tommy being made, it was like we were all being made.

Many in America have been surprised by the magnitude of the Tea Party uprising, but perhaps none more so than Barack Obama.  As people are inclined to do when threatened or under pressure, the President fell back on what he learned cutting his teeth in Chicago politics; brute force.

Recall the summer of 2009.  Traditional values-loving Americans, all over the country were so shocked by the bailouts, cap and trade and other big government expansion programs that they took to the streets in numbers never seen before.  Liberals were shocked that the political right had figured out the playbook of the political left.  As the Congressional Summer recess got underway, leftist politicians found their town hall meetings packed to the rafters with angry people asking tough questions.  As the bloggers streamed the footage and America got a nearly daily dose of another Democrat politician getting hammered, it became clear that the left was unprepared.

Protesters were disparaged as “tea baggers” and Astroturf, but name-calling is not what they do in Chicago.  It might be over the top to say the President himself ordered the hit, but what about his people?  What he said of the conservative protestors is “If they are going to hit us, we will hit them back twice as hard “.  Within two days, a black man distributing patriotic flags and buttons, found himself struggling under a tremendous beating from as many as four separate assailants.  The Service Employees International Union members got the President’s message.  The SEIU members sporting their purple people beater shirts picked their first victim.  Perhaps most disturbing, the attack began with a black union member coming unglued on a black man who did not share his leftist political beliefs all the while calling him a “nigger”.   Is this a hate crime?

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