"American Life Under a National ID Card"


Why worry?
Tom DeWeese at the American Policy Center writes this one.

"And all the time the federal government has been passing this law mandating a national ID card – it vigorously denies it is doing it. It’s not mandatory, they tell us. It’s all voluntary. It’s just that without the approved card you can’t use government services. Why have they lied?" Perhaps it’s because Congress knows full well that the American people are overwhelmingly opposed to being boxed in like this."

"But still you say, if you haven’t done anything wrong, so what." "Well," I shouted, "I’ll tell you so what." "Once this system is set up, you as an American no longer have control of your life. That will now fall under the whim of any government official or bureaucrat that controls the data in your file." "Do you know how much information currently in government data files is incorrect," I asked. Then I answered my own question; "Over 25 percent. Underpaid, undereducated government employees are paid to input information into massive data banks. They make mistakes." "Have you ever tried to get credit, only to find a mistake on your credit report," I asked. "Have you ever tried to fix it? Now take that experience and consider what happens when such mistakes block you from accessing your checking account so you can’t buy groceries. Consider what might happen if a mistake puts a false arrest warrant under your name. How do you prove you’re the wrong guy? How do you get it fixed? Now you have no money, no driver’s license. No ability to travel. You are completely cut out of society. What do you do now?"

"And to make it even worse", I said, really warming up to the subject, "what would happen if you actually made someone in the government mad at you and that person had the power to mess with your records? What if things that are legal now are illegal in the future? It happens. Governments change. New laws are made. Drugs were once legal in this country and they aren’t now. Guns are now – but may not be in the future. It used to be perfectly legal to protect your private property from trespassers. It isn’t now. Do you ever pay cash for something so that the transaction isn’t recorded? They are out to stop that. Laws change. Now tell me, if the laws change and you are tied to a national ID and total government surveillance, how long until you suddenly have something to hide from an all seeing government?" "Will you be so smug then?"

Hat tip to Rite Wing Technopagan.

I wrote about the Real ID here.

— NeoWayland

Posted: Fri - October 7, 2005 at 04:24 PM  Tag


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