Papiere Bitte: The Reality Behind the REAL ID Act
Last summer while I was back home in Florida, I came across an article in the local paper entitled “Driver’s license rules to change”. Naturally, I was intrigued as to why such a change was going to occur. It stated more documentation was going to be required to renew a driver’s license as well as to apply for one. Then I read that this was part of a controversial change from state driver’s licenses to a nationally compliant card. In other words, the cards will look the same as they did before, but now will become compliant with federal government provisions where all of the nation’s citizens’ information will be stored in a federal database. When I read this, alarm bells started going off in my head. What I finally realized was that this was part of the REAL ID Act that was passed in Congress back in 2005, which is currently going into effect as of this year. Since I was turning twenty-one on December 24th, I wanted to get my driver’s license renewed, replacing the card that teenagers get with the adult version. Yet, having discovered that the REAL ID Act goes into effect at the start of 2010, I wanted to get it done before New Years’ Day arrived. As a reminder, I cut the article out and placed it in a visible spot in my room. When my birthday passed, I went to the DMV on December 29th and had it renewed.
In case if you were wondering, REAL ID stands for “Rearing and Empowering America for Longevity against acts of International Destruction.” Like the PATRIOT ACT before it, this law has little to do with security and more about codifying information all in one spot. In this case it is information on the American people in the form of a national identification card. Granted, the law stipulates that states will issue the cards; however, the transformation will be carried out by the Department of Homeland Security, who will have the power to regulate the design and content of all state driver’s licenses, and require that all of the underlying state databases be linked into a single national database. Even the passing of this law should be suspect. The Act was placed in H.R. 1268, known as the Emergency Supplemental Appropriations Act for Defense, the Global War on Terror, and Tsunami Relief. It was placed in the bill as a rider, an additional provision having little connection with the subject matter within the bill. Since H.R. 1268 was widely regarded as “must-pass” legislation, it was passed in the House on May 5, 2005 by a 368-58 vote and was unanimously passed in the Senate on May 10, 2005. The Senate never discussed or voted on the Real ID Act specifically and no Senate committee hearings were conducted on the Real ID Act prior to its passage. A May 3, 2005 statement by the American Immigration Lawyers Association said: “Because Congress held no hearings or meaningful debate on the legislation and amended it to a must-pass spending bill, the REAL ID Act did not receive the scrutiny necessary for most measures, and most certainly not the level required for a measure of this importance and impact. Consistent with the lack of debate and discussion, conference negotiations also were held behind closed doors, with Democrats prevented from participating.”
The law itself is frighteningly Orwellian in its scope. Consider this: Federal agencies would reject licenses or identity cards that do not comply, which would force Americans accessing everything from airplanes to national parks and some courthouses to have the federally mandated cards. There is even consideration of placing radio-frequency identification chips on the cards, a form of biometrics. If this seems unlikely, I would encourage you to look to your passports. Since 2006, passports have had these chips embedded within the cardboard that binds the passport together. What is stopping the federal government from implementing fingerprints and other biometric data on the cards? If you think this is farfetched, Europe is already on the verge of doing so. A January 2008 statement by the ACLU of Maryland says: “The law places no limits on potential required uses for Real IDs. In time, Real IDs could be required to vote, collect a Social Security check, access Medicaid, open a bank account, go to a Redskins game, or buy a gun. The private sector could begin mandating a Real ID to perform countless commercial and financial activities, such as renting a DVD or buying car insurance. Real ID cards would become a necessity, making them de facto national IDs.”
States, however, are fighting back. As of right now, 25 States have passed, or are in the process of passing, legislation that opposes the REAL ID Act on the grounds that it violates the Tenth Amendment. Sadly, my home state of Florida and the State of Indiana are willing to comply with the law. President Barack Obama and Secretary of Homeland Security Janet Napolitano have stated that they oppose the law and seek to change it or are not even willing to enforce it, due to its controversial nature.
Americans do not need to be reared and empowered for longevity against acts of international destruction. Americans do not need a big brother government watching over them in the name of “security”. This fear-mongering rhetoric does nothing but increase the people’s suspicions about the government’s actions. “Those who seek to lose a little freedom,” Ben Franklin once said, “in order to gain a little security deserve neither.”
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