Matt Collins
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- Joined
- Jun 9, 2007
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The national ID battle, brewing for years, is now underway in earnest.
On January 11, the Department of Homeland Security released its final rules on what states must do to implement REAL ID, the national identification law Congress passed in 2005.
Homeland Security has taken the gloves off. States have until May to accept the plan. Beginning May 11, 2008, says Homeland Security, residents of states that have not agreed to implement REAL ID will not be allowed to use their state drivers licenses to board airplanes or enter federal buildings. They can use a U.S. passport or possibly other documents in some circumstances, but they must expect to "suffer delays due to the requirement for enhanced security screening." In other words, take your shoes off, pal, and get in that LONG LONG line over there.
States that agree to comply may be granted extensions of several years to fully implement REAL ID. But when REAL ID is in place, notes CNET NEWS, in addition to flying and entering federal buildings, "REAL ID could in theory be required for traveling on Amtrak, collecting federal welfare benefits, signing up for Social Security, applying for student loans, interacting with the U.S. Postal Service, entering national parks" as well as purchasing firearms.
In practice, it may be impossible even to get a job or open a bank account without REAL ID. REAL ID is widely expected to become the standard ID for the private sector.
And that's just the start. Homeland Security is already floating additional uses for the cards, including "reducing unlawful employment, voter fraud, and underage drinking," and monitoring the purchase of over-the-counter medicines. The REAL ID Act explicitly says that REAL IDs shall be required for "any other purposes that the Secretary [of Homeland Security] shall determine." A more open-ended grant of power could not be written.
REAL ID requires all states to make major changes to their driver's licenses, turning them into police-state national ID cards that will be loaded with sensitive personal information, all of which will be tied together in huge databases. These databases will make it easy to routinely track, monitor, and regulate the movements and activities of all citizens. The cards would also be computer-readable, allowing government and private-sector scanners to collect the personal information on the cards.
The stakes are incredibly high, says former U.S. Congressman and current Libertarian Party National Committee board member Bob Barr.
"The massive database that would be created by the REAL ID Act, containing all manner of private information on citizens, is potentially one of the most privacy-invasive laws in the history of our country," Barr says. "Anything less than scrapping this offensive national identification card law is unacceptable."
The ACLU points out that the REAL ID "will become tantamount to a license to leave your house," since it will be required virtually everywhere you go. "The end result could be a situation where citizens' movements inside their own country are monitored and recorded through these 'internal passports.'"
A true grassroots rebellion against REAL ID is forming. So far, 17 states have passed laws or resolutions rejecting REAL ID: Arkansas, Colorado, Georgia, Hawaii, Idaho, Illinois, Maine, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New Hampshire, North Dakota, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Tennessee and Washington.
Twenty-one other states have either introduced legislation or had legislation pass in one chamber opposing REAL ID.
But all those states are facing tremendous pressure from the federal government.
Like so much recent statist legislation, REAL ID was sneaked into law. It was slipped into a May 2005 emergency-spending bill to fund the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq and provide tsunami relief. Such bills are almost impossible to defeat. It passed the House 368-58 and the Senate unanimously. There was not a single debate on the Act in the Senate, and insufficient discussion in the House. President Bush, who, his spokespersons once said, "does not support a national ID card," strongly backed it and quickly signed it into law.
There have been attempts to kill the REAL ID beast in Congress. Legislation has been introduced in both the House and Senate to repeal the act, but thus far they have not progressed.
As this battle begins in earnest, state by state, no one should be fooled into thinking REAL ID has anything to do with fighting terrorism. The federal government has pushed for a national ID card for years, well before the 9/11 terrorist attacks. Previous justifications have included health care, the War on Drugs, protecting children, and controlling immigration. Any excuse, it seems, will do. This is all about massive, Orwellian control of Americans by a federal government run amok.
As Congressman Ron Paul said when the bill was introduced in 2005: "National ID cards will be used to track the law-abiding masses, not criminals."
REAL ID is a Real Bad Idea: a giant move towards a 1984-ish police state where the government monitors and controls everything you say and do.
It can still be stopped. But it's now or never.
Source: http://www.theadvocates.org/liberator/vol-13-num-3.html
On January 11, the Department of Homeland Security released its final rules on what states must do to implement REAL ID, the national identification law Congress passed in 2005.
Homeland Security has taken the gloves off. States have until May to accept the plan. Beginning May 11, 2008, says Homeland Security, residents of states that have not agreed to implement REAL ID will not be allowed to use their state drivers licenses to board airplanes or enter federal buildings. They can use a U.S. passport or possibly other documents in some circumstances, but they must expect to "suffer delays due to the requirement for enhanced security screening." In other words, take your shoes off, pal, and get in that LONG LONG line over there.
States that agree to comply may be granted extensions of several years to fully implement REAL ID. But when REAL ID is in place, notes CNET NEWS, in addition to flying and entering federal buildings, "REAL ID could in theory be required for traveling on Amtrak, collecting federal welfare benefits, signing up for Social Security, applying for student loans, interacting with the U.S. Postal Service, entering national parks" as well as purchasing firearms.
In practice, it may be impossible even to get a job or open a bank account without REAL ID. REAL ID is widely expected to become the standard ID for the private sector.
And that's just the start. Homeland Security is already floating additional uses for the cards, including "reducing unlawful employment, voter fraud, and underage drinking," and monitoring the purchase of over-the-counter medicines. The REAL ID Act explicitly says that REAL IDs shall be required for "any other purposes that the Secretary [of Homeland Security] shall determine." A more open-ended grant of power could not be written.
REAL ID requires all states to make major changes to their driver's licenses, turning them into police-state national ID cards that will be loaded with sensitive personal information, all of which will be tied together in huge databases. These databases will make it easy to routinely track, monitor, and regulate the movements and activities of all citizens. The cards would also be computer-readable, allowing government and private-sector scanners to collect the personal information on the cards.
The stakes are incredibly high, says former U.S. Congressman and current Libertarian Party National Committee board member Bob Barr.
"The massive database that would be created by the REAL ID Act, containing all manner of private information on citizens, is potentially one of the most privacy-invasive laws in the history of our country," Barr says. "Anything less than scrapping this offensive national identification card law is unacceptable."
The ACLU points out that the REAL ID "will become tantamount to a license to leave your house," since it will be required virtually everywhere you go. "The end result could be a situation where citizens' movements inside their own country are monitored and recorded through these 'internal passports.'"
A true grassroots rebellion against REAL ID is forming. So far, 17 states have passed laws or resolutions rejecting REAL ID: Arkansas, Colorado, Georgia, Hawaii, Idaho, Illinois, Maine, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New Hampshire, North Dakota, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Tennessee and Washington.
Twenty-one other states have either introduced legislation or had legislation pass in one chamber opposing REAL ID.
But all those states are facing tremendous pressure from the federal government.
Like so much recent statist legislation, REAL ID was sneaked into law. It was slipped into a May 2005 emergency-spending bill to fund the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq and provide tsunami relief. Such bills are almost impossible to defeat. It passed the House 368-58 and the Senate unanimously. There was not a single debate on the Act in the Senate, and insufficient discussion in the House. President Bush, who, his spokespersons once said, "does not support a national ID card," strongly backed it and quickly signed it into law.
There have been attempts to kill the REAL ID beast in Congress. Legislation has been introduced in both the House and Senate to repeal the act, but thus far they have not progressed.
As this battle begins in earnest, state by state, no one should be fooled into thinking REAL ID has anything to do with fighting terrorism. The federal government has pushed for a national ID card for years, well before the 9/11 terrorist attacks. Previous justifications have included health care, the War on Drugs, protecting children, and controlling immigration. Any excuse, it seems, will do. This is all about massive, Orwellian control of Americans by a federal government run amok.
As Congressman Ron Paul said when the bill was introduced in 2005: "National ID cards will be used to track the law-abiding masses, not criminals."
REAL ID is a Real Bad Idea: a giant move towards a 1984-ish police state where the government monitors and controls everything you say and do.
It can still be stopped. But it's now or never.
Source: http://www.theadvocates.org/liberator/vol-13-num-3.html
