October 18, 2004

The GOP congressional leadership is pushing for a national ID, in the form of federally "standardized" drivers licenses, and their bill is getting closer to being sent to President Bush's desk, either before or after the November election. It fits in perfectly with the liberal agenda of controlling the travel of the population to "reduce environmental impact" and "reduce consumption" of limited natural resources. However, there are many GOP and Democratic congressmembers that are leery of it - enough to keep it from coming to a vote, or even defeat it, if enough of their constituents contact them about it, especially during the last few weeks of the election campaign.

As the Coalition of Constitutional Liberties points out, DC needs to hear from the grassroots. We do NOT need to create the framework for a national ID, for the purposes of "stopping terrorism" as so many claim. Yet, right now, Washington appears intent on doing just that even though many members of Congress themselves admit standardizing driver’s licenses and establishing an integrated screening network will not help. To make matters worse, the various measures being considered by Washington would allow, or even encourage RFID tags, biometrics, and other infringements of privacy, to be integrated into driver’s licenses.

What is behind this? Money, for one: the beltway bandits of the surveillance industry are pushing strongly with their lobbyists. They are looking to cash in on what is taking place in Washington, especially the campaign issues of "homeland security." If they succeed, it will be at your expense. Not only will the cost of implementing a de facto national ID system come at great public expense (hey, guys, OUR tax money), it will divert resources that could be better used in the War against Terrorism for effective measures, such as improving security for ports, arming pilots, and allowing states to decide for themselves what defenses they need. But, worst, the ultimate cost stands to be the liberty of law-abiding citizens like us to come and go in our country without being monitored by the government. Although money is motivating the potential future government contractors, it is power, raw power, that encourages people like McCain, Liberman, and Hastart to push this vicious and evil agenda.

Pass the word to your conservative, as well as your libertarian friends, and ask them to contact conservative federal legislators and encourage them to fight this stupid measure. It may not be enough, but it certainly will help. Letters to the editor to spread the word can work as well. Do it today!

Here are some extracts of articles dealing with this:
Congress Close to Establishing Rules for Driver's Licenses
By MATTHEW L. WALD

Published: October 11, 2004 "…said Marv Johnson, the legislative counsel for the American Civil Liberties Union. If the requirement to show the identification card can be applied to any mode of transportation, he said, that could eventually include subways or highways, and the result would be "to require you to have some national ID card, essentially, in order to go from point A to point B."

RFID Driver's Licenses Debated (By Mark Baard)

Virginia is among the first states to explore the idea of creating a smart driver's license, which may eventually use any combination of RFID tags and biometric data as fingerprints or retinal scans.

From the 10/01/04 Biometrics Advocacy Report, issued by the International Biometrics Advocacy Association:

Hastert’s bill says that within three years, “a Federal agency may not accept, for any official purpose, a driver's license or identification card issued by a State to any person unless the State meets Federal standards". This mandate is identical in substance to the mandate in the McCain/Lieberman bill. Hastert’s bill does not explicitly mandate biometrics as part of Federal standards for state-issued identity documents, but it doesn’t prohibit the use of biometrics either.

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