I actually find the passport LESS invasive than the driver's license. The Passport does not have my address on it. It doesn't tell anybody whether I drive or not. It is good for ten years. It is not cross-linked the ways drivers' licenses are. It does indicate citizenship, which a driver's license does not.
They should reduce the fee for the Passport.
The problem with that is on the Canadian side. THEIR passports expire in five years, and if you need a new birth certificate, to renew, the wait for the birth certificate can be five months! In Ontario, all birth certs are processed in Ottawa. Mine was obtained in the city of my birth in Connecticut in five minutes by a nice lady behind a counter with a selectric, stamp and photocopier.
A passport doesn't fit in a billfold.