It's actually kind of cute to see you all get in such a tizzy about things. It really is. All the hand wringing and proclamations of doom.
To understand what hate crimes legislation is about, you first have to understand the idea of
mens rea, or "guilty mind". Mens rea considers the mindset of the person commiting the
actus reus, or the actual act. Our legal system has done this forever, so quit whining about the downfall of American society.
Take a concrete example. Situation 1: A husband suffocates his wife with a pillow while she slept in order to collect insurance money. Situation 2: A husband suffocates his wife with a pillow while she slept out of mercy to end her life because she was dying of cancer. Which one is more guilty? Which one deserves the harsher sentance?
Which is worse? A tagger's name spraypainted on a bus stop or swastikas on a synagogue wall? Which one does more to disrupt society as a whole?
The law doesn't make it any more of a crime to mug a black person, a gay person or a muslim than it does to rob a white male. What it does do is make it more of a crime to mug a black person, a gay person or a muslim BECAUSE they're black, gay or muslim. The
mens rea in that case is different and therefore deserves a different sentancing.
Look at the FBI's hate crime statistics for 07:
http://www.fbi.gov/ucr/hc2007/table_05.htm
You'll see "anti-white" listed as a hate crime category. Shocking, right? It's because hate crime legislation is designed to give everyone equal protection under the law, as everyone has a race, creed, color, etc. You're all hung up on the idea that this kind of law establishes protected classes. It doesn't. It's about taking into account MOTIVES, not protecting classes.