Governors should fight Real ID plan

From the Detroit Free Press.

When the nation's governors gather in Traverse City this weekend, they ought to do themselves and their states a service by serving a definitive notice on Washington that the Real ID Act is not just unworkable but unacceptable and ought to be repealed before it takes effect next year.

Read more here

Federal Real ID Act Update: Podcast from MITECHNEWS.com

A lot of folks are just unaware of the REAL ID Act--believe it or not.

Mitechnews.com has a podcast that gives a good survey of the legislation.

I encourage you to listen

Then think.

And think again.

Conservative Bona Fides

There is a wide variety of people who stand opposed to the REAL ID Act and national id cards.

Many are extremely liberal.

Many are extremely right-wing--and conspiratorial in their thinking. (By the way, REAL ID is a bad idea all by itself. It doesn't require needless conspiracy-thinking to present it as problematic...)

Others are "independents."

Regardless, a lot of Americans just want to protect freedom.

Anyway, I'm glad to see a concerted effort to undo this lousy legislation passed in May of 2005.

But what is curious to me is why conservatives and Republicans were the ones to push the bill into law.

How does increasing the scope and presence of government in the lives of citizens promote the conservative ideal of "limited government?"

Conservatives usually stand against arbitrary and cumbersome regulation in our country. But with a system of national identification, they want to build the infrastructure that has potential for attaching and enforcing regulations in an unprecedented way. Do they not see this as a contradiction to conservative ideals?

I'm a conservative. I want a strong view of the 1st, 2nd, and 4th Amendments to remain in our country.

Shoot. I happen to believe in all 10 of the Bill of Rights.

Conservatives that I respect (here, and here) are promoting a national id system. And I am amazed at their stance.

Surely Americans are creative enough to stem the tide of illegal immigration, fight the necessary war on terror, and protect our borders within the framework of our great heritage of freedom.

Establishing national id cards is no good answer.

National ID Cards in India: Future Promise of E-Governance

In America, politicians like to talk about narrow uses for certain measures. These "minimum standards" or "narrow uses" usually increase beyond their initially established parameters.

Proponents of REAL ID like to talk about "minimum standards" for ID that will be used for entering nuclear power plants. Often they forget to tell you that the REAL ID will be required for banking--which affects our daily lives.

How many more uses will be added to this national id card? How many arbitrary rules can be enforced with this efficient method of control?

We have to look around and see what people in the world are saying. We have to look beyond the politicians in the U.S. who oftentimes speak for manipulative effect.

Consider India.

Future promise of e-governance

The next five years will see e-governance going beyond transactions to do much, much more.

Sunil Chandiramani, Partner, Ernst & Young talked about the future of e-governance. He started off with a quick recap of what has been done to date. India has transformed significantly over the past few years...

The next five years will see much more. Focusing on some key areas could accelerate the speed of implementation of NeGP—multi-purpose, secure, authentic, unique national citizen identity database; Greater harmonization of initiatives between the centre and states; equitable partnerships with the private sector; accelerated rural connectivity; building common storage and processing capacities between or amongst the states and the centre to optimise investments and cost of maintenance; capacity building and change management as well as delayed projects and accelerated costs – monitoring and evaluation.

Chandiramani posed a provocative question: “Do we restrict e-governance to transactions or do more than that?” (emphasis added) ExpressComputerOnline.com

“Do we restrict e-governance to transactions or do more than that?”

Once REAL ID becomes part of our national infrastructure, I predict we will be hearing this question more and more.

The politicians just won't be able to resist.

It's sad that most Americans aren't either.

TN rejects "Real ID" legislation

Here's a recent posting at the Knoxnews.com site about the Tennessee legislature's rejection of REAL ID.

ASHVILLE - The American Civil Liberties Union of Tennessee (ACLU-TN) today praised the Tennessee General Assembly for their bipartisan rejection of the REAL ID Act, which would require all Tennesseans to give up sensitive personal information which would be stored in a national database, to pay higher licensing fees, and to stand in long lines at the Department of Motor Vehicles. The joint resolution (SJR248) criticizes the federal law’s unfunded mandate and its threats to privacy, security, and the Tennessee Constitution.

Many conservatives are opposed the general direction of the ACLU. I'm one of these people. I believe the ACLU is usually opposed to the best interests of the country.

One commenter named Joel expressed his dislike for the ACLU.

As much as I generally disagree with the ACLU, I had to respond to Joel:

Joel,

I despise most of what the ACLU is doing, but you know what "they" say about a stopped clock. You can't be wrong all the time.

I am dismayed that so many Americans think that to fight illegal immigration and terror we must promote:

1. A massive increase in government power,
2. An undermining of federalism,
3. An undermining of the 4th amendment,
4. An increased ability to track Americans in real-time,
5. An erosion of the presumption of innocence,
6. A radically increased ability to enforce arbitrary (future) rules,

and

7. Federal approval on whether you and I can earn money or not.

Don't get me wrong. I'm all for stemming the tide of illegal immigration. But I don't want to throw our freedoms into the dump to do it.

Illegal immigration should never be used as an issue to further the evolution of a totalitarian state. Instead of going after illegal immigrants, bureaucrats and politicians sought and seek power to monitor and approve the lives of everyone.

A dedication to freedom principles (i.e. the Constitution) may call for difficult decisions.

So be it.

If it’s not freedom, Just what are we fighting for?

I'm sure the ACLU's motivations for opposing REAL ID do not line up with mine.

But conservatives who love the spirit of the Constitution and the goals of the Bill of Rights should be opposed to the thinking and the results of REAL ID.

We shouldn't look first at who opposes it--and then decide we're for it.

Read the resolution here.tenn_0248.pdf