> "hate" as we understand it today had very little to do with the transition to empire Fair point. What I was thinking of was the general decline of respect fo

> "hate" as we understand it today had very little to do with the transition to empire Fair point. What I was thinking of was the general decline of respect for the (semi-democratic) republican system of governance. The Republic crumbled when politicians stopped using the „constitutional“ means of settling differences and turned to gangs of thugs instead. So I wasn‘t so much thinking of „hate speech“ as of „anti-democratic speech“. A core criterium of German law is loyalty to the constitution. A number of political rights (the right to free speech, the right to form a political party, the right to hold public office or be employed by the government) are predicated upon the citizen‘s constitutional loyalty, his/her upholding of our democratic values. The idea is that our democracy does not want to aid its enemies in its own destruction, as was partly the case in Weimar. > it doesn't seem like much of a right if it can be lost so easily Multiple US states refuse ex-convicts the right to vote. Talking about convicts: prison sentences are nothing but the government stripping you of your right to free movement. Capital punishment is you being denied the right to life. You may object to all three of these forms of punishment, but the fact remains that all countries restrict peoples‘ rights in some way or another. (What constitutes just cause for such a restriction of rights is a fascinating and tough question, but one I unfortunately cannot answer...)