What is in Your Wallet? The New National ID

[ChicanoPwr]

Ron Paul Denounces National ID Card

Congressman Ron Paul today denounced the national ID card provisions contained in the intelligence bill being voted on in the U.S. House of Representatives, while urging his colleagues to reject the bill and its new layers of needless bureaucracy.

“National ID cards are not proper in a free society,” Paul stated. “This is America, not Soviet Russia. The federal government should never be allowed to demand papers from American citizens, and it certainly has no constitutional authority to do so.”

“A national identification card, in whatever form it may take, will allow the federal government to inappropriately monitor the movements and transactions of every American,” Paul continued. “History shows that governments inevitably use such power in harmful ways. The 9-11 commission, whose recommendations underlie this bill, has called for internal screening points where identification will be demanded. Domestic travel restrictions are the hallmark of authoritarian states, not free nations. It is just a matter of time until those who refuse to carry the new licenses will be denied the ability to drive or board an airplane.”

“Nationalizing standards for drivers licenses and birth certificates, and linking them together via a national database, creates a national ID system pure and simple. Proponents of the national ID understand that the public remains wary of the scheme, so they attempt to claim they’re merely creating new standards for existing state IDs. Nonsense! This legislation imposes federal standards in a federal bill, and it creates a federalized ID regardless of whether the ID itself is still stamped with the name of your state.”

“Those who are willing to allow the government to establish a Soviet-style internal passport system because they think it will make us safer are terribly mistaken,” Paul concluded. “Subjecting every citizen to surveillance and screening points actually will make us less safe, not in the least because it will divert resources away from tracking and apprehending terrorists and deploy them against innocent Americans! Every conservative who believes in constitutional restraints on government should reject the authoritarian national ID card and the nonsensical intelligence bill itself.”

http://www.lewrockwell.com/paul/paul222.html
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Too late they voted for it. I guess Robert Kuttner got his wish.

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ROBERT KUTTNER
Try national ID card -- you might like it

AS A CARD-CARRYING member of the American Civil Liberties Union, I'd like to have one more card in my wallet. The card I want, contrary to the views of most civil liberties activists, is a national ID card.

Privacy advocates have always resisted this idea, for fear of government snooping on citizens. But that cat is out of the bag. Nearly all of us have driver's licenses, Social Security cards, passports. And corporations, credit agencies, and HMOs keep dossiers, too -- often more extensive than what government maintains.

<snip>

The second big reason involves immigration and labor rights. We try to control our borders, but millions of foreigners overstay tourist or student visas or slip in illegally, in order to work. They are able to take jobs because business wants them here to work for low wages and be conveniently frightened of exercising their labor rights.

Our immigration laws require workers to have proof of lawful status, but employers are not punished if the papers turn out to be forgeries, which are easy to obtain. It's much harder to forge a passport-quality national ID card.

So let's decide just what level of immigration we want, make it possible for those immigrants currently working in the country to regularize their status, and then use a national ID card to make clear who is able to work -- and to freely exercise rights as workers without fear of being deported.

In an era where there is justifiable fear of terrorism, a national ID card would also help law enforcement. Identity theft would also be much harder if there were a single, government issued ID card.

http://www.boston.com/news/globe/editorial_opinion/oped/articles/2004/12/08/try_national_id_card____you_might_like_it/
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[LauraT28]

1. Hey Bleeding Hearts, THIS IS REAL AND IT'S SCARY.....

Pass the word about this..This is Tryanny, PLAIN AND SIMPLE...People, we need to start doing something now or this country is over...this is WAY WAY WAY beynond all the Bull@#$% Partisan politics..Kerry, Bush...None of that matters compared to losing our rights...LEARN.

[ChipperbackDemocrat]

3. Its real, Its scary

Unfortunately, its inevitable.

The people will get scared and forget their birthright of freedom.

[ChipperbackDemocrat]

2. It's called KGBAmerica

KGBAmerica, another fine Republican Idea.

It really makes you wonder who really loves America.

[LauraT28]

4. Not too many have a response eh>?

Are you people clueless? It leads me to believe that most are...Even here, they have you all engaged in fighting a diversionary battle betweeen 2 political sides that are really serving the same interests...It's friggin unbelievable to me that most can't see this...Study, Google, Read...Come on people.

[ChicanoPwr]

18. I understand your frustration

It is scary. We are talking about not being able to move around our own country. We are prisoners in our own home. With the National ID also comes the secret "No Fly List" AKA "No Travel List." Strange thing about that list, that list will be used to as a background check. When ever we apply, each employer will have to check that "list" to see if we are not a terrorist.

Am I scaried, yes. It looks like it is you and me who will have to wake people up.

[SoCalDem]

5. I just don't see why they don't just issue every citizen a passport

Instead of charging $90 for one, why not just issue one to every citizen.

It's the perfect ID..No one could EVER deny you the right to vote again..and they are uniquely numbered too..

anyone who thinks the government does not ALREADY know all about you, is naive..

I do not see this as any HUGE problem.

[elf]

6. I as a German never felt "unfree" with my German ID or my passport

so do other Europeans.

How about, getting automatically at age 18 your voting permit? It,s possible with national ID...............

[LauraT28]

8. Read our Constitution Sir...This is NOT Germany.

No offense, but it's not supposed to be either and Americans who hold our founding principals dear have a very different view then Germans.

[SoCalDem]

11. That alone would cure most of our election woes.. I support it..

I got my first passport when I was 4 yrs old. For many years, I had only expired ones, but when a free trip to Tahiti came along last year, my husband and I were at the post office in less than a half an hour :)
Other than showing it when we checked in for our flight, and again at customs, no one "asked to see our papers"..:)

[LauraT28]

7. well, you are obviously uninformed......There is more to this.

Just the concept is unconstitutional..travel restrictions if you don't have it, Government checkpoints on the roads...It's too much for me to even go into but your attitude and lack of in depth study on this, is part of the reason why this stuff gets by and Americans do nothing about it. That and I blame the mainstream propagando press..I hope you start understanding what we are up against here for your own sake SoCal. Good luck.

[SoCalDem]

9. I'm guessing that you are still young...

I am not going to lose any sleep over this..Why?? Because we have a republican government that's "gonna do what it's gonna do"..


and anyone who thinks that "they" don't already have the capability to "get the goods on ANYONE" in the US..IS naive.

What they DO with the info is another issue, but I am willing to be patient and see how this plays out.

If you have ever had a phone, had utility hook-ups in your name, had a credit card, bought a car, rented a house, seen a doctor.. well you get my drift..

Unless a person is a total hermit, "they" already know more about you than YOU do.. :hi:

[LauraT28]

12. Jesus Christ...You just don't get it...

No, i'm not young....In my 30's...I just like the constitution...You are missing the point entirely.

[xequals]

14. Just because the government already has the information,

doesn't mean they have the right to keep it, or the right to more of it.

The goverment has no rights, only duties to be carried out.

One day people will wake up and realize that the authoritarian state they helped create, the "peaceful servant" they trust.. is really the violent master our founding fathers warned us about.

[Guarionex]

10. what is the difference between this and State Ids?

Just a thought...but isn't our society already extremely demanding of Ids, social security, and other personal info, at every institution you visit?

When I go buy liquor, show an ID. When I go to a bank, show an ID. Heck, sometimes when I purchase things with a Debit card, show an ID.

It's already an Orwellian society...if the Feds want your info, they can already search for it based on your usage of your State ID.

So, what's the big complaint.

[SoCalDem]

13. I think some people are upset about the "connectivity" issue

but that's not really an issue anyway, now that everyone has computers..

I used my ATM card in Tahiti, so even "remote Pacific Islands" have the ability to "check me out"..

The connectivity is a PLUS, in my book anyway.. It could cut down on the scammers being able to assume identities, and to vote in more than one place.. Maybe repubes don't like that feature :)

[Nihil]

17. Or the shift in the burden of proof?

I hear what you are saying about "the system" already having plenty of
information on you but I disagree with your conclusion.

Instead of having to copy several discrete elements to hijack your
identity the miscreant would only need to take one - your ID card.

Instead of having to phone the credit card company to complain about
the rogue transactions after someone has double-swiped your Visa card,
you would have to deal with the government (like to bet on which of
the two organisations will be the more efficient at cracking fraud?).

Instead of being innocent until proven guilty of any crime where your
ID has apparently been registered, you will be guilty until you somehow
manage to prove yourself innocent - you have been ID'd with respect to
a crime and the law isn't going to be in a hurry to find an alternative
suspect to prosecute ...

Nihil

[xequals]

15. Personally, I believe we need to take back our information

and all of the "ID's" out there in government and corporate databases.

We need STRONG laws with regards to our personal information. The government should only have the minimum neccesary, and there should be strong oversight, as to ensure that it is not shared or abused in any way.

Only then can we start to think of some sort of national ID card.

[jackelope72]

16. The only major difference between this and what we have now

Is that everyone's ID across the country will pretty much look the same, rather than each state having its own look.

I can't tell you how many times a day I have to show my driver's license, as well as some other form of ID. Every time I cash or deposit a check, every time I write a check, every time I want to buy a beer or a movie with an R rating, I have to pull it out. When I go to rent a movie, my driver's license serves as my rental card. Any of these places can key in my license number, and from there they can access any info about me. If there was a warrant out for my arrest, my bank would know it, and would be able to call the police while I was standing there waiting for my money.

Here in the wilds of southern New Mexico, we do have checkpoints; they are manned by the Border Patrol, and although most of the time they'll wave you on through, you do have to be prepared to show them your ID if they ask for it.

The government is already keyed into your information. If you use anything but cash to pay for your purchases or bills, someone somewhere has access to that information. Someone somewhere is capable of finding out who visited which websites from which computers and at what time, and how many times.

In short, I guess I'm saying that Big Brother has been around for a long time, it's just that he's now starting to become a more visible presence. We have to choose our battles now, use our energy and time and talents for something that will really change things. And as far as I can tell, stopping the formation of a National ID isn't going to make any difference in our lives or our relationship to our government.

[el_gato]

19. having a slave mentality won't help