REAL ID Should Have Been Defeated

The State Senate in New Hampshire barely rejected a measure that would have rejected the REAL ID Act recently. New Hampshire, the "live free or die" state, seemed like it should be especially interested in preserving civil liberties, but it has instead preserved the future of an act that will just the opposite.

The REAL ID Act would create a "unified driver's license system," otherwise known as a national ID card. It is so invasive and pointless that the ACLU has created an entire website devoted to protesting the REAL ID Act (www.RealNightmare.org). It creates a federalized identity documentation system that would be necessary to do countless things, from flying on a commercial airplane to opening a bank account. It makes it extremely easy for the US government to keep careful track of everyone, or at least everyone who wants to enter a federal building or do anything else that "the secretary [of Homeland Security] shall determine."

Yeah, anything else that Homeland Security wants to keep tabs on.

Surely our Congress will not be so stupid as to pass an act such as this one? The burden it would place on those who lost their birth certificate, don't have a driver's license, or the thousands of Hudson County, NJ residents who had their birth certificates invalid due to fraud by a clerk, would be far too much for a nonexistent increase in our national security?

Yes, they would, and in fact already did. It will take effect in 2008. It was passed as part of a necessary Iraq War/Tsunami relief bill that had to be passed rapidly. There was little time for consideration, and the Senate did not hold any hearings on the act at all.

It can still fail to take effect, though. The issue is now in the hands of the states, who would have to change their laws, raise taxes, and do a number of other things that they would prefer not to. If states refuse to comply with the act, which they can do entirely legally, the system couldn't work. Just because New Hampshire didn't make the first step doesn't mean it can't be made.

The ACLU Real Nightmare site has a FAQ about the problems and worthlessness of the REAL ID Act (fixed text size, unfortunately).

Tags: Politics, Current Events, Current Affairs, Civil Liberties, Civil Rights, REAL ID Act, Terrorism, Politics of Fear