Fight the "REAL ID" Act

Published on May 10, 2005 By Gideon MacLeish In Politics

The following press release is from the Libertarian Party website (www.lp.org):

All Americans Must Denounce the Real ID Act

Libertarian Party Calls on the U.S. Senate to Remove H.R. 418 RFS from the Appropriations Bill

America is hours away from implementing universal measures of identification for every citizen of this nation. Today, the U.S. Senate will be voting on the Real ID Act (H.R. 418 RFS) which has been quietly slipped into an $82 billion dollar appropriations bill for "defense, the global war on terror and tsunami relief."

The purpose of the Real ID Act is to, "To establish and rapidly implement regulations for State driver's license and identification document security standards, to prevent terrorists from abusing the asylum laws of the United States, to unify terrorism-related grounds for inadmissibility and removal, and to ensure expeditious construction of the San Diego border fence."

The act will remove a state's ability to set standards and qualifications for driver's licenses and I.D. cards. Instead, the federal government will establish their own universal standards that will result in a national I.D. card for citizens.

Additionally, the Real ID Act calls for implementation of the program with "common machine-readable technology" which could lead to widespread abuse, identity theft and massive privacy concerns.

Libertarian Party Executive Director Joe Seehusen stated, "The Real ID Act was snuck onto the Senate floor without debate. If passed, it will not only create a national I.D. system, but a national citizen database for use and abuse by our federal bureaucracy. While both republicans and democrats talk of freedom and democracy, their vote for this bill will put our great nation in league with the authoritarian regimes of the past."

There is still time to take action against this act; you may contact your Senator directly by clicking here.

Comments (Page 1)

ParaTed2k

on May 10, 2005

The fact they are slipping it into the defense appropriations bill tells us that the lying scum knows it's unconstitutional. What, the cowards are afraid that the concept can't stand on its own?

Pathetic!! Thansk for the heads up. Just sent an Email off to Sen. Feingold and Kohl.

bakerstreet

on May 10, 2005

Maybe I'm slow, but I don't get what the hubbub is. The whole "national ID" thing was a lost cause after we all got social security numbers; after that the precident was set. Maybe someone could elaborate on why a national ID is so much more heinous than a state ID so the rest of us can share the outrage? I personally hate the idea of illegal aliens being granted drivers licenses, and I REALLY hate people here on 6 month visas getting drivers licenses that are good for 6 years.

Maybe if people cared more about their state and local politics and made sure the job was done right there, the Federal government wouldn't be so interested in hijacking their authority all the time. I'd be willing to bet that 90% of the people who whine on the messageboards about Bush here couldn't tell you who their state representitive, or even Governor is.

Gideon MacLeish

on May 10, 2005

Baker,

The national ID is at its very BEST a government boondoggle that would appropriate tax dollars to a cause that will NOT make any significant moves towards identifying terrorists and/or illegal aliens, at its worst its a sinister scheme that will seriously erode our liberties and lead to the creation of a martial state. My guess is, it's somewhere in between.

But again, we must look at the fact that they are slipping this in with another bill to see that their agenda is underhanded. If they thought it stood a real chance to stand on its own, they would have launched it on its own.

We have seen far too many violations of the US Constitution; to justify this on the premise that it's "just one more" is not a reasonable argument. Yes, the states need to step up to the plate, but yes, it's also true that the federal government is acting in blatant disregard to principles of the Constitution that, our founding fathers, at least, held dear. I was not around when social security was proposed; I'm not in favor of THAT system either. We've gone too far down a slippery slope as it is; going further down it cannot be justified by our past mistakes.

sushiK

on May 10, 2005

I support this

Moderateman

on May 10, 2005

My name is moderateman and I do not support this!

but i do support bars codes tatooed on foreheads or computer chips fused with the heart.

bakerstreet

on May 10, 2005

"at its worst its a sinister scheme that will seriously erode our liberties and lead to the creation of a martial state. "

Okay, I understand that is what people are thinking. And usually that is what people say and move on. What I would like someone to do is state HOW it will seriously erode our liberties and lead to the creation of a martial state.

Like I say, maybe I am slow. Your employment is already tracked. Unless you refuse to pay taxes your total income information is basically public. I'm nationally identifiable by my SS#, which you basically hand out on every major transaction.

I think a far MORE heinous infringement of our privacy is the PRIVATE intrusion of credit information peddlers and the digital warehouses that track us from credit transaction to credit transaction.

Danny Bassette

on May 10, 2005

Doubleplushappy, big brother shall take care of all our needs. Privacy ungood, the government knows mostright.

bakerstreet

on May 10, 2005

" Doubleplushappy, big brother shall take care of all our needs. Privacy ungood, the government knows mostright."

That's an example I see quite often on matters of national security.

Curiously you don't get much of that kind of response when the courts are forcing families to watch their daughter starve to death, or forcing states to accept Roe v. Wade, or when people want to cut education or social security. We've reached the point that I have to call the authorities to take care of stray dogs. That's probably three or four steps away from needing to apply for government approval to wipe your butt...

Not to toot my own horn, but I think Relinquishing Control Breeds Authoritarianism. If you hand over enough personal responsibility to the government, and make it big enough to eat you, eventually it will.

sushiK

on May 10, 2005

Wow, i am really surprised no one has use the 1984 argument yet!

Moderateman

on May 10, 2005

1984 is sooooooooooo 21 years ago.

bakerstreet

on May 10, 2005

Seriously, when I asked "How" above, it wasn't rhetorical. I would really like to know how this will abused. To me the info available to them will just be redundant, since they could have gotten it anyway.

Reiki-House

on May 10, 2005

Terrorism terrorism terrorism 911 terror terrorism terrorism terrorism terrorism 911 terrorism terrorism 911 terrorism terrorism terrorism terrorism terrorism terrorism....Every single liberty US planners have revoked always and mandatorily carry the overtones of terrorism or 911 or a threat against America. When will Americans understand that giving up liberty doesn't give you security. That's a truism all real freedom loving Americans should come to understand. The dumbing down of the American people is one of the greatest implementation s the US planners have come up with. And they work fast too these days. How many years ago was it when a common American would have considered a mandatory identification card and a government-controlled database of everything about you as something worthy of a Stalinalistic or Maoist society. But no longer. Will Americans ever get back the balls they used to have, or have the American people been castrated with no hope of returning to the peaceful sympathetic America of old? I tell you with no doubts whatsoever that this is the tip of the iceberg. Forced internment of American citizens is imminent, though still a few years away. Gideon there is no hope of stopping this overweight freighter in a quick realistic manner. It's happening and Americans will tolerate it as usual. As long as it's under the guise of 'terrorism' there seem to be absolutely no end to the dumbification of the American public.

COL Gene

on May 10, 2005

let's wake up "one nation under God indivisible" not 50 different systems with their own little regulations on something as important as the able to identify the people that are in this country. An American citizen should not object to something that clearly identifies them as an American. we need to do is make sure that we have standards in this country that enable us to safeguard our people or we have nothing! we need to realize the Real ID act is need and we ned border system that lets the government no who is in this country, where they are and when they leave.

bakerstreet

on May 10, 2005

"Forced internment of American citizens is imminent, though still a few years away."

And if they gas us to death, no doubt there will be folks like you in 60 years pretending they didn't, and that we spent our internment swimming and watching plays...

Gideon MacLeish

on May 11, 2005

let's wake up "one nation under God indivisible" not 50 different systems with their own little regulations on something as important as the able to identify the people that are in this country.

COL,

Funny...the founding fathers disagreed with you pretty strongly on this issue.

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