widdershins

The Real ID Act: shame, horror, stupidity

So you probably heard that the Real ID Act was slipped into an Iraq war appropriations bill and passed the Senate 100-0. This act mandates a national ID, gives unprecedented powers to the Secretary of Homeland Security, and further egregiously erodes our civil liberties in a blatantly unconstitutional way. This is a new low point for modern America, my friends. Every single one of those people who voted for it, no matter what their lame excuse, should be voted out of office.

Real ID Act Update

HR 418, the Real ID Act, which I mentioned previously would create nationally-mandated standards for local picture IDs such as state driver licenses in the US, was passed in the House of Representatives and is currently under consideration by the Senate Judiciary Committee. Congressman Ron Paul (R-TX, and former Libertarian Presidential candidate) sternly denounced the bill as a Trojan horse:

this bill will do very little to make us more secure. It will not address our real vulnerabilities. It will, however, make us much less free. In reality, this bill is a Trojan horse. It pretends to offer desperately needed border control in order to stampede Americans into sacrificing what is uniquely American: our constitutionally protected liberty.

What is wrong with this bill?

The REAL ID Act establishes a national ID card by mandating that states include certain minimum identification standards on driver’s licenses. It contains no limits on the government’s power to impose additional standards. Indeed, it gives authority to the Secretary of Homeland Security to unilaterally add requirements as he sees fit.