Posted on 05/04/2005 12:49:44 AM PDT by neverdem
In a more rational world, Congress would have started thinking hard about identity cards right after Sept. 11. By now, the nation's lawmakers could have had a long and serious discussion about how to create a sensible national ID that would provide identification and security while protecting privacy. This is, after all, a critical issue in terms of both safety and civil liberties.
Too bad. What Congress is doing instead is to ram through a bill that turns state-issued driver's licenses into a kind of phony national identity card through the mislabeled "Real ID" provision. And in order to make absolutely sure there's no genuine debate, the sponsors have tied it to a crucial bill providing funds for American troops in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Attaching a bad bill to a vital one is a sneaky business, making it nearly impossible for thoughtful members of Congress to vote against it. In this case, in order to provide financial support to American troops doing dangerous service abroad, lawmakers are stuck also supporting a plan that eliminates the chance of doing anything serious about identity security. It also puts a new burden on the states and potentially subverts the real purpose of driver's licenses: safe drivers.
This federal driver's license mandate will require states to verify whether an applicant for a license or renewal is in the country legally. Although that has always sounded like a reasonable goal, it bumps up against the arguments of the police and highway safety experts in many parts of the country who are concerned about the illegal immigrants who drive. Eleven states have modified their licenses in ways that make it easier for noncitizens to learn the rules of the road, qualify for licenses and get automobile insurance.
The most optimistic explanation for the Congressional leaders' irresponsibility on this issue is that it's a sop to conservatives led by Representative James Sensenbrenner Jr., a Wisconsin Republican. The conservatives are determined to get this bill passed before they'll listen to any discussion of more comprehensive immigration reform. The Real ID measure is no small price to pay to get the larger reforms, which President Bush has yet to show any signs of seriously pushing.
Once this new driver's license requirement becomes law, licenses from states that do not screen for immigration status will not be accepted as federal identification for things like boarding airplanes or entering federal buildings. Many state officials are understandably concerned about the added cost of this new license because so far there is no federal money attached to Mr. Sensenbrenner's bill. Security-conscious Americans will also be concerned about making state motor vehicle department employees the ultimate authorities on identity security. They will be the ones required to ask for and verify birth certificates - something that is a challenge, given the slapdash way some local communities deal with these documents. States will also be required to keep copies of every applicant's file for a decade and to house those documents in secure buildings.
Senator Lamar Alexander, a Republican from Tennessee, argued in The Washington Post that the bill was not only another unfunded mandate, but would also turn "state driver's license examiners into C.I.A. agents." For states, like Tennessee and Utah, that have found a way to provide special driver's licenses to illegal immigrants, this change is particularly irksome. In these states, residents who cannot prove they are legally in the country can get a license that's good only for driving. In Tennessee, the driving-only license looks considerably different and is labeled: "For driving purposes only. Not valid for identification." That makes sense, and it's the kind of solution that states help create in their roles as legislative laboratories.
Many state officials have been helping to put together new national guidelines for driver's licenses as part of the intelligence reform law enacted last year. The Sensenbrenner bill eclipses that effort. Here, yet again, is another state effort that's being countermanded from Washington by conservatives who once made states' rights their hallowed code.
If the New York Times is against anything whatsoever, it must be wonderful.
The thing to avoid is a reliable way for Government to identify every last human being within its borders. Knowledge is power. I don't want them to have that power. Ever.
That's what I come away with.
Being able to sit at a console or open a laptop in DC and find out who I am, where I am, what I'm doing, and who all my relatives and friends are at the touch of a button is a utility that only a despot could want.
We'll never solve the illegals issue if we adopt that thinking. The "thing" you want to avoid, is the key solution.
I'm not seeing that ability iterated in the article. It's late and I'll be returning to bed, but in this hazy state, I, too, cannot figure out how this license would afford a dictator the abilities you warn of.
If you haven't done a crime, you shouldn't worry. I think what gets their attention in DC is when you rape or murder someone. That alone would set off alarms in DC. 248 million residents in this country, there is a slim chance they're going to just sit down at a laptop in DC and punch in your name and details. They have to have a reason to do it anyway.
This isn't a national ID, any more so than any existing DL which can already be checked through NCIC.
As for the Slimes, they could edify themselves by talking with the 40 or so states that already enforce a presence test (e.g., with US birth cert, US passport, or immigration docs).
My wife needed to bring her naturalization certificate to the DMV. Big whoop.
A swipe card into a national database that brings up just a photo ID would absolutely work wonders against the illegal problem and the voter fraud problem as well.
I think the transactions have to be over $10,000 to raise a flag. Otherwise, the FBI would be swamped with reports that people are shopping on Amazon.com and visiting their local malls.
I absolutely reject this notion, wholely. I wish privacy for no other reason than I wish it, and it should be mine.
I'm sure you are aware that now, any transaction involving money that isn't paid with cash, the F.B.I. gets a record of it.....ie..ATM withdrawal's or deposits, any checks written, credit or debit card usage etc..
And people try to pretend we don't live in a police state right now. Stasi would have killed for this ability to monitor.
States that issues drivers licenses to illegals do so only for the purpose of relieving law enforcement officers from the embrassment of NOT ENFORCING the immigration laws. RealID will is a small but CRUCIAL step in seeing that our immigration laws are enforced EVERYWHERE.
Of course, the article is ridiculously slanted. NYT concerned with unfunded mandates ? It's like the red-alert kaxxon for lineral bias.
-R
Thats the I.R.S. that gets records of any single transaction over $5,000.00, the F.B.I. gets everything.
I really cannot imagine that. The manpower required to deal with the sheer volume of small transactions that occur on a daily basis would be incredible. How many of these transactions do YOU do on a monthly basis? How many millions of other Americans make these transactions on a monthly basis? There just aren't that many FBI agents. Besides, they have to do investigations and stuff.
I guess its a matter of figuring out which is the greater evil.
Just require them to show valid ID. Having people produce the proper documents and then verifying them isn't the same as keeping track of people.
without giving the government the ability to track people
I think the government already tracks you, at least a little bit. Your income is reported to the IRS, as is the interest on your bank account and mortgage. Also, universities have to send a notice to the IRS regarding every student, because of some very limited tax deduction scheme that Algore invented; even if you're not eligible (and most people aren't), the notice is sent. Waste of paper.
All for it, but what constitutes "valid ID"? A lot of illegals can buy stuff that passes on a quick glance by an employer looking the other way. Do national standards for tamperability constitute a "national ID card"? I don't think so, but some people here would holler loud and long if we put counter-proofed computer chips in state ID cards.
I just got a duplicate Social Security card in the mail about three and a half months ago, and it seems frightening easy to duplicate or alter. I'd love to see it meet the standards of even the most lax state drivers license! Your point about the government being able to track you through the IRS makes me wonder if we should change the timing of the tracking. Instead of letting the government know where you worked by January 31st of the next year, what if they had a way to know where you were working when you got a job? That might discourage a lot of illegals.
I would think an ID that can be verified through the issuing agency. Plus, a chip or something. My driver's license has a bar code and a black stripe on the back; my other ID has a chip, but no signature. I think these are fraud reduction measures.
Instead of letting the government know where you worked by January 31st of the next year, what if they had a way to know where you were working when you got a job?
The government knows where I work, and knows where I am when I work. But my situation is not typical. Don't people fill out a W-4 form and other paperwork when they get hired? Where does all that paperwork go?
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