Authored by Peter Earle via The American Institute for Economic Research,
The deadline of yet another, and perhaps the most insidious, element of the post-9/11 initiatives (a partial list of which includes the establishment of the Transportation Security Agency, the Department of Homeland Security, and a never-ending international war against a nebulously-defined, noncorporeal enemy, “terror”) is less than one year from coming to fruition.
Beginning no later than October 1, 2020, citizens of all US states and territories will be required to have a Real ID compliant card or US passport to board a commercial plane or enter a Federal government facility.
Pundits citing the inevitability of what amounts to a national ID card have, regrettably, been vindicated.
To be sure, some states have resisted, but dependence upon Federal aid and other programs administered from Washington D.C. makes their ultimate surrender and compliance inevitable.
Looking back, Social Security Numbers and the cards bearing them broke ground for the path to a national identification system — thank you, Franklin Delano Roosevelt. For decades there have been pointed reminders that the cards were intended to be account numbers and not integrated into a government registry of American citizens.
Repeated efforts, starting in the 1970s, to forge identifiers from the Social Security system have been rebuffed: in 1971, 1973, and 1976. The Reagan Administration indicated its “explicit oppos[tion]” to a national identification system. Both the Clinton healthcare reform plan (1993) and a provision of the Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act of 1996 requiring Social Security Numbers on driver’s licenses were rejected (the latter in 1999) to some extent upon the basis of tacitly constituting national identifiers for Americans.
There are any number of reasons why the alleged tradeoff between liberty and security that a national ID card represents are being misrepresented. Any system designed, maintained, and run by human beings is ultimately flawed, and in any case corruptible. The existing documents from which the information fed into the Real ID program are eminently vulnerable to forgery. To provide just one example: tens (perhaps hundreds) of thousands of Americans don’t have verifiable, “official” birth certificates.
And people can become radicalized after being issued their Real ID card.
The Real ID also represents the “last mile” in the ability of the state to track individuals in real time. With various electronic, social media, and cellphone tracking measures, there is always a delay; and one can choose not to use social media, not to own a cellphone, and opt into other methods of extricating oneself from the prying eyes of the NSA or other government agencies. But the Real ID — in particular, coupled with biometrics — fulfills Orwellian conceptions of the total surveillance state.
Expect it, over time, to be leveraged against individuals with outstanding traffic tickets, tax disputes, child or spousal support arrears, or behind on loan payments. Access to national parks and historic sites may be tied to it. Recent proposals pushing compulsory voting are a step closer to realization and enforcement with the establishment of a mandatory government ID card. Census data, drug prescriptions, and even library borrowing choices and habits are likely to eventually be linked with personal data associated with the new ID requirement. And if the Real ID is eventually accessible by the private sector, many individuals with innocuously-tainted personal histories may become effectively unemployable.
Indeed: the worst US government infringements upon the life, liberty, and the much referred to “pursuit of happiness” of American citizens over the last two centuries — and mostly within the last two decades — will be vastly easier and more efficient to accomplish with the imposition of a mandatory identification requirement.
I will here make two wagers — both of which I sincerely hope to lose.
First, within five years of the establishment of the Real ID program (October 2020, or whenever it is ultimately established) either a forgery, an enforcement error, corruption, or some combination of those will lead to its sterility in preventing (or commission of) the very forms of terrorism or crime it portends to.
Something awful will happen despite (or perhaps employing) the Real ID cards and program. At that point, revocation will not be an option: “reform,” taking the form of increased funding, a larger bureaucracy, and quite possibly greater legal restrictions will instead be piled on.
Second, within ten years of the establishment of the Real ID program it will be required to purchase tickets for and/or board trains and buses that cross state lines. It may also be required at tolls and state crossings in personal vehicles.
I hope both of those predictions are wrong, but as Americans we have been here before. Liberty has yet to win out over increased security despite the ineffectiveness of each and every such tradeoff to date.
Relatedly: where is the media attention? Has a single newspaper headline — let alone a three- or five-minute spot within the incessant droning of the 24/7 media cycle — been dedicated to the impending arrival of an American national ID program? The increasingly partisan, mindless political banter would be tolerable if, occasionally, the media served its role as public tocsin.
The answer to the question regarding what Americans will give up for a measure of security, and in this case a tremendously dubious measure of security, is now clear. Both the Federal requirement that citizens require a passport for domestic travel and the meek acceptance of it by citizens and state officials lead to an irrefutable conclusion: America is, and hasn’t for some time, been the land of the free. Less is it the home of the brave.
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Vehr ahr yo paypas?
The Nazi’s won after all.
Obvious.
Nazi’s or commies?
both the nazis & commies were bad–
our govt is protecting us so it’s 4 our own good–
you paranoidiacs need to go somewhere else–
i was at sam’s club tonight–there was a huge fat guy there,probably 325 or better,walking around in his dhs uniform,just being friendly as could be to people–
he was proud to be in that uniform & you know what,he probably makes more $ then most of us–
Red.
And with gold plated bennies.
Here is one you might want to hear. My neighbor is 78 and only gets around 1,150 a month. She pays 135 in medicare premiums but recently got a bill for a deductable of 1,360
which works out to around 110 a month more or 245.00. She couldn’t get any less than 60 a month payments over 2+ years. A few weeks later she gets a new bill for another 1,350 for another deductible when she thought it was a once a year deal. That comes out to 355.00 a month premium for two stays in the hospital this year. Apparently it’s based on length of stay and total bill. She has applied for debt relief and will probably get it this time but now she’s paranoid about any future health emergencies. I have no idea how many others if any, are in this situation but it seems cruel. Ending the cruel charade of american healthcare and just letting her become a bag ladie at the homeless shelter seems more generous than what we are doing.
she could get a united american(based in texas but should have local agents) med supp down here 4 around $250.00/month & it pays everything medicare will not,along w/most drug costs–
probably about the same up there if they’re in your state–
My walking partner, Geneva… age 78, told me their premiums were going up over a hundred dollars… they found a new supplement. Is crazy.
Maggie.
A lot of chicanery in the billing process to name one.
Economic fascism was a hallmark of FDR’s new deal, and both republicans and democrats have been essentially embracing it ever since.
People have been subject to documentation since ancient times and being asked for your papers is hardly something new.
In fact, I’m a minor authority on what passed for “papers” through the ages because without good documentation you are stuck scratching on cave walls by firelight.
https://www.ancient-origins.net/artifacts-ancient-technology/solution-5500-year-old-mesopotamian-clay-ball-enigma-008411
VERIFIABLE documentation allowed for trust in commerce and diplomacy, not only goods flowing across borders, but for the people delivering the goods and messages.
Exhibit A.
So before we get to your second sentence, let’s DISPOSE WITH THE FIRST.
No really, let’s stick with the first sentence.
STOP!
Stop advancing on me!
Halt kommunistisch, oder ich werde schießen!
Needs no translation.
Why halt? Because the second sentence evaporates like steam on a hot highway in July if you PAUSE TO DISPOSE of the first sentence as fluff.
You could go back to to days of Amoebas in the “Primordial Soup” and said Amoebas would still want to document each other to make sure they didn’t a Red Commie Paramecium Pretender in their midst.
Knowing that, now what about those Nazis?
Hopefully you get the point.
Let’s just save our breath on that psyop that was the Nazi Party.
This is another idiotic idea, designed to make money for the states.
in my state, to get a real id, you have to pay an extra $40, show up with a utility bill, a birth certificate, and perhaps and old social security card (mine is 50 years old). all of these documents are very easy to forge, there is no added security with a real ID, it is just another tiny emblem on the corner of the DL that indicates “I am a slave, I will do what I am told”
I have not flown since 1999, and have never entered a federal facility (unless I need one of these to go to the post office, that will be interesting to find out)
Have you ever considered that the US is an open air prison?
You need permission from the US gov’t in the form of a passport to leave the country to go to, say, Germany. There’s no guarantee you can get a passport if you request one. It’s one of those ‘privilege’ things gov’t is famous for inventing out of nothing.
The countries around the world collude in this scheme so that the country of your citizenship can claim the passport is required by the destination country, which just happens to be true. The more clear eyed explanation is it’s a form of mobility control that all countries (read governments) want to limit their own slaves ability to move around. The passport is a soft form equivalent to the Berlin wall.
Why is it that you need such permission – no one ever asks.
This latest requirement for useless paperwork is, as you say, another money making scheme, but above all it’s another limitation on your natural right to travel and leave one mafia behind.
When currency controls are needed to keep funds within the confines of a State, mobility control becomes the next step so you can’t leave a jurisdiction. If you read between the lines TPTB are telling you the economy is going to roll over and they have no quick fix for what’s coming.
Who would ever have foreseen this?
Bill Clinton in the 90’s was trying to institute a national health care for all but it never got off the ground. Written in it’s plan was a mandatory national ID card for everyone associated with the health care plan.
Well that explains why it takes 3 cops to make a simple traffic stop with me (non moving), I have the star.
Carry on…
Five years ago I found out you can no longer trade your Drivers License in when moving to a new state without a passport or a birth certificate.
Hey fuckface.
A noncorporeal enemy is not only still an enemy, it’s often the worst kind.
It’s so easy to smash commie-tard speech, a well educated overgrown child could do it.
OK. Except for the time I super-glued my fist to my wiener. Kinda like in American Pie? And what commie-tard keeps downvoting my azz?
Nice try.
Just checked out AIER.
Now that’s a world-class Left of Left disinformation mill!
Naturally, it’s in Massachusetts.
Damn it, did it again! I meant Center for Economic and Policy Research. C-E-P-R. Disinfo uber alles! Dean Baker is the Kennedy mob’s bookkeeper.
Can someone get the Kragle off my penis?
winnie,
go to the emer room & tell them that the doc needs to adjust your meds NOW–
i don’t want to be hearing about how some guy in the northeast cut his lower unit off w/a butter knife–
Tampa.
He can’t right now. He’s got some guy named Kraig on his penis who won’t stop.
When I was up at midnight baking bread (the bread dough rises when it rises) I actually “searched” for Kragle.
after reading these links,i really am worried about winnie–
https://www.google.com/search?q=what+is+kragle&rlz=1C1CHBF_enUS775US775&oq=what+is+kragle&aqs=chrome..69i57j0l3.10731j0j7&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8
Wait, how in God’s name do you get Krazy Glue on your dick (Kragle is from Lego Movie, thanks for the links)???
22, were you building a model train or something??? I swear to God, there’s always something that causes me to have to mute myself in my morning meetings. This takes the cake.
Want me to send HSF up your way to assist? Both of y’all are in NH…
i have a hunch that hsf doesn’t love his fellow man enough to mess w/his unit-
a small hunch mind you,but a hunch none the less–
Red.
Where’s Gay Veteran when you need him?
rumor has it that he changed his name to nkit–
Red.
You really like living on the edge don’t you? Friday fail is coming up. Maybe you should cut you’re losses now.
flea,
you notice he hasn’t been posting much recently,i’m not worried–
i believe he & his new mr. have been busy all week picking out new doilies 4 their home–
talk about the potential 4 a hellacious cat fight–
But we do not have to have a photo ID to vote.
TN.
And if you’re illegal you don’t even need a passport or Birth Certificate to get a Drivers License.
Nor Vaccinations or a permanent address.
flea,
you’ll love this one–
couple of months ago i rented to a honduran couple w/2 kids–
last spring when all the uproar about kids being in detention was going on,they walked up to the border & spent 20 days in a detention center b4 being sent here to tampa where he has a cousin–
he was issued an official state of fla id card,something other guys who have been here 20+ years can’t get–
anyway,when they moved into their house the power co. had left the electric on as they often do when the previous tenant has paid the bill–
i thought they understood that they had to put the power in their name but yesterday the service guy from the power co showed up & cut their power off–
it turns out that they tried but w/o either an id & ss# or passport & id they can’t put power in their name–
i got on the phone w/the company rep & they claim that it is now a federal law to have a ss# to start service unless you have both a passport & state id —
Red.
Do you remember congressman Jim Trafficant’s 5 minute speeches on the house floor on c-span in the 90’s. He would read off something like that and end it with
BEAM ME UP SCOTTY.
i loved trafficant–
i don’t doubt that he was guilty of the crimes he was convicted of but his were minor league compared to many others–
he just wouldn’t fall into line so they prosecuted him,which imo is persecution when it’s selective prosecution–
i hope in the end he was beamed up & not pushed down–
Red.
I don’t think they took him out over his comments as much as over his bad suits and haircuts.
he was definitely one of a kind
This past summer, I went to Tinker AFB while in Oklahoma to renew my military ID, which expired while ill (His doesn’t expire; a spouse’s does). (He made an appointment for me online from here). I went to the wrong gate, not realizing they’d moved Pass & ID. Because I was there with an expired ID, the gate was shut down (just before LUNCH… my appointment was at noon) and traffic backed up while a “for hire” gate guard (private contract security guy) called for actual military security guards to come. The SSgt apologized and said it was now base policy to treat all access attempts as suspicious. So, he set up cones and then escorted me in a U-turn out of the wrong gate. Traffic was backed up a mile on 29th street outside the gate.
I went up the street a mile to the “new” Pass and ID gate and got there just in time for my appointment.
How’s that for making you feel better about the state of our country’s military?
mg,
i’m curious,where did you live when you were in okc?many of my mom’s relatives still live there & when you mentioned 29th st it made me curious–
my granddad lived very close to the corner of se29th st & s.post rd,just east of tinker–
Hell, nobody can even ask you if you know how to drive.
NJ DMV trumpeted how they were going to be one of the first government entities in the state to test and roll out REAL ID.
Good luck getting it working for the Jersey peasants. The NJDMV network infrastructure can’t even handle the load it manages now and I’m wondering how f-cked up the system will be later on. It won’t be required to vote but they’ll make sure the ID is tied to all your bank accounts and financial information so when a money issue in the government’s favor arises they can tie your ass up financially for years.
Voting for Presidents belongs in a museum next to war and Federal Reserve Notes.
It never mattered.
If it never really mattered, then what?
The only benevolent dictator most people have experienced is their mother or father and that’s not the best example.
wacist,wacist,wacist–
shouldn’t need id to vote,it keeps you from voting multiple x–
Remember, Newt Gingrich and his gang aka The Republican majority in congress foisted this crap upon the unsuspecting people of the united States.
“Where is the media attention?”
Mr. Earle? Excuse me sir, obviously you’ve been in a coma for the past thirty years so this is going to come as a shock to you, but they are the problem.
Nothing is as it was and this is not good.
Yep, it’s the same slippery slope as the DNA database. While I was in the U.S military, we were required to submit to having our DNA taken and kept in the military database. We were told it would ONLY be used for the purposes of identifying the remains of deceased military service members. https://archive.defense.gov/news/newsarticle.aspx?id=41418 But, of course, it was changed to allow access to identify unknown perpetrators of serious crimes when only DNA evidence was available. Then I seem to recall that it was changed to allow identification for paternity, when a court order was issued…for the sake of the poor babies, don’t you know?
Who knows how it’s being used now? Internet searches disclose very little information. Supposedly the DNA is only retained for 50 years, but you can file a request to have your DNA removed from the database, once you complete your obligated service. Does it happen? But how would you verify that the removal occurred? Not that I don’t trust the government…
I am a heavy traveler and always have the passport at the ready. But I also have the passport card which will get you through the border crossing at Canada or Mexico. I don’t even use my state license any more. There is a chip in the passport card, but there does not seem to be any more identifying information than is on my license, in fact, there is less info. My license contains my address, while the passport card does not…maybe its on the chip?
Fuck them . The only way I’m going on a flying bomb or into a Federal courthouse is in shackles LOL.