Posted on 05/11/2014 3:55:49 AM PDT by 2ndDivisionVet
I am preparing to renew my driver’s license, a process requiring some considerable preparation. My last trip to a driver’s-license bureau, in Norwalk, Conn., ended with my giving very serious thought to returning later in the evening and burning the place down, the process having been so backward and the people so hateful. I have in my life had a number of unpleasant encounters with government agencies — handcuffed in Texas, terrorized by Mexican federales, assets seized by the IRS, chased about by India’s immigration authorities, etc. Frankly, I’d rather be pepper-sprayed than pay another visit to the Norwalk DMV.
I do not expect the New York City version to be much better, but I’ll withhold judgment until the facts are in. But before I could even do that, there were other preparations to be made. For example, my passport, issued by the U.S. State Department, is perfectly adequate to get me through customs and immigration at any airport in U.S. territory, and is a fully functional form of identification anywhere in the country, and most of the world, except for a New York DMV office. For that, you need a couple of forms of identification, one of which must be a Social Security card. The mutation of the Social Security card from proof of enrollment in Social Security into a federal quasi-ID is itself a long and stupid story, and, if you happen to have lost yours in the course of having had a dozen home addresses in the past 20 years, rest assured that you’ll need more than a passport to get one. For that, you’ll need an original birth certificate...
(Excerpt) Read more at nationalreview.com ...
You can order a Texas birth certificate by mail from the State Vital Records office, Kevin. It’s not as dramatic as “having” to fly to Texas, though.
Getting blood work or a physical done under a federal bureaucracy will make waiting in line at the DMV seem like a vacation. Think Wal-Mart shoppers in rows of metal folding chairs with their EBT cards and their hollering welfare babies who are queued up ahead of you. They don't have to pay...but you will. But first, you need to take a number and get to the back of the line.
How about telling them you want to vote
Democrat in all upcoming elections? Perhaps
that would “move things along” a bit faster.
I’m not sure what current SS cards look like, but mine says “not to be used for identification.”
LOL! Good one.
Gotta’ be honest, I’ve been breezing thru the DMV’s here in NY for 20 years now. Go to info and get the paperwork squared away then take a number and wait for 10 or 15 min and out.
and I recently renewed my Texas driver's license online. It was quick and easy with no lines or hassle.
That would be nice. You can’t do that in NC, but if you pick the right DMV office and the right time, it’s not bad - and the only document you need is your previous license.
I’m on my 4th teen driver at the same location, so I know all the DMV staff personally ;-).
Alright. Let the revolution commence. Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhh!
Bureaucracies are bad, but the writer makes a poor choice for complaint, when it comes to verifying legal status and ID. That’s something we need more of, not less.
Also, I’ve got driver’s licenses in both CT and NY, and the process isn’t really that onerous in either state.
The dude sounds a bit like something of a general screw-up.
Just move to New Hampshire - DMV like it oughta be.
When I was a kid the DMV in Maine was a place of horror. Long lines and very slow service. Now you take a number, sit in a comfy chair for a while (brief if you get the timing right) and then go to a window where a reasonably friendly and efficient person waits on you.
The downside is that there’s a TV screen in front of you playing videos about DUI and texting, only interrupted by some footage of LaHood babbling about something. That can be countered by bringing a book.
Did they nuke it from orbit? ;-)
In Massachusetts, the DMV operating costs are $60 million per year. It brings in $600 million in fees and fines. It's a nice little business we have here. Wouldn't want to see anything bad happen to it.
Also, I’ve got driver’s licenses in both CT and NY, and the process isn’t really that onerous in either state.
I would be really curious to know if both your licenses have the Real ID compliant gold star in the upper right corner?
I doubt that would be the case, as having more than one license is against the Real ID Act, and more than likely against state statute preceeding the Real ID Act.
My congratulations on accomplishing what government would like to make impossible.
No, I don’t have concurrent licenses from the two states. I’m in CT now, and yes, by taking in my passport at renewal, I was able to get the star.
I believe in 1997 Congress amended the law by which states would lose funding if they didn’t verify and collect SS#s through the driver’s license process. The justification at the time was for enforcement of child support from deadbeat dads.
And how is that a secure piece of informantion? Like the author, I jumped through many of the same hoops when I moved to North Dakota. I got my certified copy of my Colorado BC by telephone from non English speaking Mexican contractor to whom I had to provide an extreme amount of personal information.
I can’t wait to rad the article when he actually goes to the DMV.
in Maryland, it took me four trips, 9 hours and 150 miles of driving to get a simples set of license plates. When I lived in Michigan, the same transaction was literally 10 minutes.
I complained so much, I finally got a call from the director of “Customer Service.” I let her have it and told her agency is broken.
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