i'd expected buck to be the one to play this silly little game and i notice he did chime in right after you, disregarding justifiable fears as fantasies of the tin foil hat brigade. though it is considered a secondary offense, the fact remains that the thought is considered an offense in itself. we are already punishing people for their thoughts, though they must commit another crime in order for the state to proceed against them. the precedent has been set that the state may punish people for their thoughts.
though you may consider it farfetched that we might be arrested for our thoughts and i certainly hope you're correct, the jump from secondary offense to primary offense is not so great as making something illegal in the first place. seat belt laws are a prefect example of this. every state in the union except new hampshire presently has a law requiring seatbelts be worn. of the thirty states in which it is considered a primary offense, it began as a secondary offense in all but eight. the precedent had been set that it was a crime and, in law, precedent is of paramount importance.
the greatest crime of liberal methodology is that it fails to take into account what each bit of regulation may lead to. each new law that is passed or restriction put in place inexorable leads to another and then another and then another..... it is presupposed that the state will keep the people's best interests in mind, but government's aim, like that of any entity, is always its own growth and the expansion of its influence. the naive belief that the people can control the violent forces directed by the state can so easily lead to the enslavement of the population. go ahead and call me a conspiracy nut, but read your history and understand that it has happened before.