Real ID Act No Imaginary Threat
In this era of post-9/11 security concerns the federal government has introduced several measures to help protect the American citizens from foreign security threats. While I agree with some of these new laws there is a line where I believe we as a country need to be very careful in crossing. The question in this debate is always virtually the same- do we extend the protection of government at the sacrifice of constitutional protections such as privacy and freedom of speech? This is a question that has been debated over and over in Washington, DC and in our state capitols. This is not an easy question to answer because both sides make very good arguments. There is no black and white decision here because like most real political debates there is a great deal of gray when debating the rights of the people versus the role of national security. I do believe the federal government is going in the wrong direction with the continuing development of the Real ID Act.
The Real ID Act is an attempt to create one national, uniform identification system. While this may sound harmless on its face, the implications are far reaching. Debates in congress have included the discussion of a huge expansion of personal information being included on the card data strip. While there are many urban legends about what Real ID will and will not do, one thing is for certain, before each state just blindly walks into the compliance of this Act because of the financial temptations the federal government has offered we should at least have a public discussion on the ramifications this new ID could have. Nearly half the states around the country have passed resolutions rejecting the Real ID Act for their respective states. I have introduced a House Joint Resolution to require any future implementation of the Real ID Act to be approved by the legislature first. While Alabama has already implemented some of the requirements under Real ID which were primarily cosmetic I believe before we continue down this road of gathering personal information on our citizens we should at least have more public debate on the issue. What harm would it do to have this process out in the open for more people to understand and see what is going on with their government?
Some in the media have stated that there is no legitimate threat with the Real ID Act. In the end, they could be right but as those who valiantly protect the 1st Amendment would agree, what is the harm in having the sunshine let in on this chipping away of personal liberties?
Related to your resolution, Representative Ward, what follows is the text of a letter I sent to the Mobile Press-Register yesterday:
Re: “The federal ID law isn’t strong enough” in the April 9 edition of the Press-Register.
Your editorialist contends that, “Tamper-proof ID cards would largely solve two national problems — unchecked illegal immigration and the menacing movement of terrorists across international borders.” I disagree. With our borders not secured, terrorists can easily enter the country 24/7 without going through any checkpoint where an ID would be required. Only if they had to go through a checkpoint would Real ID provide any security at all.
I suggest your editorialist go to http://www.house.gov/paul/tst/tst2005/tst050905.htm where, among other things, Congressman Ron Paul wrote the following:
“Federally imposed standards for drivers’ license 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.”
Comment by Don — April 11, 2008 @ 5:25 am