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 2)

Deference

on May 11, 2005

Good to see someone else is raising Cain about this despicable legislation. Good job, Gideon.

Deference

on May 11, 2005

Good to see someone else is raising Cain about this despicable legislation. Good job, Gideon.

Gideon MacLeish

on May 11, 2005

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.

Frankly, Baker, that's why I was shocked to see you support the act. You've always been a reasonable champion of individual liberties and responsibility.

MasonM

on May 11, 2005

We are a nation of individual states, each with it's own government and it's own laws and regulations which is what was intended when this country was established. As long as they don't conflict with the Federal constitution, each state has the right to determine it's own laws and standards. Any time the Federal government imposes itself on these state rights, we lose some measure of freedom.
If Immigration (a Federal Agency) did their jobs with regard to foreign nationals entering this country the whole thing would be moot.

bakerstreet

on May 11, 2005

Never said I supported it, Gid. I just fail to see the horrific potential of it, and I can't for the life of me get any of the doomsayers to explain what is in store.

COL Gene

on May 11, 2005

There is NOTHING more basic than our security as a NATION. Without security we do not have freedom. The states have NOT done the job that is clear!

Island Dog

on May 11, 2005

I really don't see the problem with a national id system. You are not giving up any rights or liberties for it.

Gideon MacLeish

on May 11, 2005

Never said I supported it, Gid. I just fail to see the horrific potential of it, and I can't for the life of me get any of the doomsayers to explain what is in store.

Baker,

Truth be told, in my opinion, we probably won't see any immediate repurcussions from it, outside of a tremendous increase in unlicensed drivers (poor people who don't have the means for one reason or another to purchase all of the needed documents to get their national ID), which basically endangers everyone on America's streets.

But in removing our freedoms, the government hasn't relied on one sinister magnificent gesture. They've relied on a systematic series of compromises that have gradually undermined our freedoms so that we quietly accept the sacrifice of our freedoms. Common sense tells them that a single magnificent act would lead to revolution.

I wasn't around to speak to the issue of social security or other infractions of the government. But I AM around to speak for this, and I will.

There is NOTHING more basic than our security as a NATION. Without security we do not have freedom. The states have NOT done the job that is clear!

"He who would sacrifice a little liberty for a little security deserves or receives neither". Too bad you think Benjamin Frankli was full of shit, COL.

Island Dog

on May 11, 2005

The problem is you are not giving up any liberties here.

bakerstreet

on May 11, 2005

"But in removing our freedoms, the government hasn't relied on one sinister magnificent gesture."

What freedom is being removed?

""He who would sacrifice a little liberty for a little security deserves or receives neither"."

you have yet to explain how a national standard for driver's licenses sacrifices Liberty. I'm honestly beginning to think you can't...

Zoomba

on May 11, 2005

I think the objection people have here is over the symbol a national ID presents. We already have this, like Baker said it's the SS#. Our drivers license does much the same job a national ID would, but there rules and protections governing who gets them is uneven across the US.

This is something that could have been accomplished (and was actually on its way to happening) as more and more states worked to tie together drivers license databases. Eventually the magnetic strip format would have been fully standardized and through the actions of the individual states we'd essentially have a National ID. Is this any better or worse than a federally mandated one? It was happening anyway.

If you think for a minute you aren't tracked in everything you do, you're wrong. Even cash transactions leave a trail that can be followed. Credit cards, bank accounts, social security number etc... I don't see this as an additional infringement, since these rights and issues of privacy were decided long long ago and are so ingrained into the system that they can't be removed.

Gideon MacLeish

on May 11, 2005

We already have this, like Baker said it's the SS#

For one thing, the ss# isn't required to cash a check. For another thing, I don't agree with it either.

Baker,

I stated a few possible scenarios on the other blog. Feel free to go there and call them paranoid delusions.

I take it you're pro gun control, eh?

bakerstreet

on May 11, 2005

No, I'm not pro-gun control, Gid. I am a card-carrying memeber of the NRA, and my father is a lifetime member.

Maybe my lack of outrage over drivers license laws puzzles you, but I never thought you to be a knee-jerk paranoid who brands anyone who disagrees with you a fascist, either. Dunno what's going on with you, but this all-or-nothing idea of liberty makes me a bit queasy.

Why not ask me if I am one of those pinko commie homosexuals next? Is your neighbor bitching about your chickens again? No need to take it out on the rest of us...

bakerstreet

on May 11, 2005

I mean my God, Gid, you wanna evoke the NRA on me when you are marching with the ACLU? I had no idea that you had come to believe in their definition of "Liberty", i.e. agree with us or be labeled a fascist. How petty.

Gideon MacLeish

on May 11, 2005

you wanna evoke the NRA on me when you are marching with the ACLU?

I'm marching with the LIBERTARIAN PARTY, thank you very much.

And if you believe EVERY case the ACLU has argued is wrong, you obviously are misinformed about the ACLU (although the majority of their prominent cases ARE wrong, but I digress).

Well, fair's fair. You want to force national ID on the rest of us, get ready to register the guns that aren't already registered. It's only part of the national progression.

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