Last Chance to Stop National ID

by Rep. Ron Paul(Republican)

The U.S. House of Representatives passed a spending bill last week that contains provisions establishing a national ID card, and the Senate is poised to approve the measure in the next few days. This week marks the American public's last chance to convince their senators they don't want to live in a nation that demands papers from its citizens as they go about their lives.

Absent a political miracle in the Senate, within two years every American will need a conforming national ID card to participate in ordinary activities. This REAL ID Act establishes a massive, centrally coordinated database of highly personal information about American citizens: at a minimum their name, date of birth, place of residence, Social Security number, and physical characteristics. The legislation also grants open-ended authority to the Secretary of Homeland Security to require biometric information on IDs in the future. This means your harmless looking driver's license could contain a retina scan, fingerprints, DNA information, or radio frequency technology.

Think this sounds farfetched? Read the REAL ID Act, HR 418, for yourself. Its text is available on the Library of Congress Web site. A careful reading also reveals that states will be required to participate in the "Driver's License Agreement," which was crafted by DMV lobbyists years ago. This agreement creates a massive database of sensitive information on American citizens that can be shared with Canada and Mexico!

Terrorism is the excuse given for virtually every new power grab by the federal government, and the national ID is no exception. But federal agencies have tried to create a national ID for years, long before the 9/11 attacks. In fact, a 1996 bill sought to do exactly what the REAL ID Act does: transform state drivers' licenses into de facto national ID cards. At the time, Congress was flooded with calls by angry constituents, and the bill ultimately died.

Proponents of the REAL ID Act continue to make the preposterous claim that the bill does not establish a national ID card. This is dangerous and insulting nonsense. Let's get the facts straight: The REAL ID Act transforms state motor vehicle departments into agents of the federal government. Nationalizing standards for drivers' licenses and birth certificates in a federal bill creates a national ID system, pure and simple. Having the name of your particular state on the ID is meaningless window dressing.

Federally imposed standards for drivers' licenses and birth certificates make a mockery of federalism and the 10th amendment. While states technically are not forced to accept the federal standards, any refusal to comply would mean their residents could not get a job, receive Social Security, or travel by plane. So rather than imposing a direct mandate on the states, the federal government is blackmailing them into complying with federal dictates.

One overriding point has been forgotten: Criminals don't obey laws! As with gun control, national ID cards will only affect law-abiding citizens. Do we really believe a terrorist bent on murder is going to dutifully obtain a federal ID card? Do we believe that people who openly flout our immigration laws will nonetheless respect our ID requirements? Any ID card can be forged; any federal agency or state DMV is susceptible to corruption. Criminals can and will obtain national ID cards, or operate without them. National ID cards will be used to track the law-abiding masses, not criminals.

It already passed the Senate, 100-0.

any illegal alien will get one for $10 on the street

This real ID thing just ticks me off. I'm really mad about it!

I just typed out this whole long diatribe about how this angers me, but just pasted it to a word doc. Maybe I'll post it later, when I feel more rational. I will say that the way this law was put on as a rider on the military funding bill was a VERY nasty bit of trickery. Very nasty. Grrr.

I'm glad there are other patriots out there in electron land. I'm told Montana is the only state which so far refuses to be blackmailed. Montana here I come. Even so, they give up the right to fly and bear arms and God knows what all. I knew this was coming since OKC but now that it's reality I'm in shock anyway.

allbidness -- OKC? Operation King Cobra? 😉

This isn't start some kind of flame war, but I thought it was interesting. A quote from The Bible, Revised Standard Version, Book of Revelations,

Revelation 13:16-17 "16 Also it causes all, both small and great, both rich and poor, both free and slave, to be marked on the right hand or the forehead, 17 so that no one can buy or sell unless he has the mark, that is, the name of the beast or the number of its name. "

People on both sides of the religious spectrum seem to be afraid of the RealID. Both sides say essentially the same thing in opposition to it, echoing a book of the Bible which was written - some say as prophecy, some say as allegory - more than a thousand years ago. Hmmmmm...

Again, this isn't an attempt to get something started, just an interesting observation.

Religious implications??

Numbering society??

News Flash!

You have a passport?? Read the number.

You have a driver's license? Read the number.

You have a Social Security Card? Read the number.

Hell, even the vehicle you drive has a number!

As for the RealID....Great idea!

I can't wait until we all have to PROVE that we are U.S. citizens by brining in 5! different pieces of ID when we go to get our "drivers license". Some great idea this is.

Funny....

I had to show my birth certificate, my SS card, my Military ID, vehicle registration and proof of insurance to get my driver's license in NC.

That was over ten years ago.

i think the real reason people ae against the new official id card is because we all know that all the other information id's are scattered all over the place.

this new card will consolidate everything known about us from the womb to the tomb and it will be available in a centralized data base.

not only will the government find out anything and everything about anyone, but so will all the groups that buy lists.

we will be bombarded with spam in an attempt to sell us something.

and the hackers will have a field day.

soon there will be tracking chips imbedded i children by the government and all the science fiction movies about controls of the "masses," will be a reality.

remember in "judgement at nurenburgh" when one of the judges said to spencer tracy, "i never thought it would go this far." tracy's answer was "it went too far the first time you convicted someone innocent for political purposes"

i am paraphrasing but the point is still there

Funny strange. Not funny ha ha.

"The REAL ID Act establishes a national ID card by mandating that states include certain minimum identification standards on driver’s licenses. It contains no limits on the government’s power to impose additional standards. Indeed, it gives authority to the Secretary of Homeland Security to unilaterally add requirements as he sees fit."

HON. RON PAUL (R) OF TEXAS

What Rick said...

Having already been the victim of identity theft, this is a BAD, BAD thing...

Although I agree with everything Rick said, I'd also like to add a reason I oppose this.

This card is mandatory. Without it, you cannot drive, buy a house, get a loan, ENTER a bank, open an account, apply for a credit card, make a withdrawl, ENTER an airport, book airline tickets, file taxes, receive SS benefits, get a job, etc.

I choose to drive, so I agree to carry a DL. I choose to own a car, so I agree to a plate. I travel, so I agree to a Passport. You see, all of these are completely optional. The Real ID is required to LIVE IN THE USA! Heck, I bet it'll be required to vote, in order to prevent terrorists attacking a polling station of course.

I'm beginning to see this whole WTC thing as the new Cold War. The government was able to use the Russians and their Nukes as a fear inducer. Having the public fearing for their lives at all times, and even kids doing nuke drills at school, enabled the government to do whatever they wanted. Hey, it was for our own good. Cold war is over and the USSR is dead. The government has found a new fear to inflict on the people, Terrorism. If the fact that they named a bill that revokes 100% of one's constitutional rights the "Patriot Act" doesn't even make you consider the above, then it looks like I have a really good reason to fear for myself, my fellow Americans, and the ideals that were set forth by our forefathers.