The litany of abuses is so long, so byzantine and so silly, that it would be impossible to construct such a mess unless it was by design, and not incompetence.
A local talk-radio host commenting on the matter suggested or asked if it might be time for a "national ID" to prevent such abuses. My thought is, if the government is unable or unwilling to tackle the matter given the amount of technology available, what makes anyone think a national ID is going to make one iota of a difference, other than to inconvenience law abiding citizens, and provide yet another layer of nonsense on an increasingly pissed off citizenry.