Posted on 10/25/2001 2:51:14 AM PDT by purereason
All those who are against National Identity Cards are only fooling themselves. What do they call a drivers license, social security card, business license or the many other cards our government uses to keep tabs on us? Try getting a job, credit, or many other benefits, both from the government or the private sector without them. Impossible, who's kidding who?
A national identity card would only replicate the many other cards we are already required forced to carry. The various government entities already exchange information they have about us...So what's the problem? If your right hand is shackled to a wall, how can shackling your left hand further prevent you from moving away from the wall?
Personnally, I don't relish the idea of national identity cards, and would vehemently appose such a notion if I thought it was possible to maintain the type of stable, civilized society I'm used to without them. Matter of factly, during my time spent in the military (all members of the military are required to carry an identity card), I found the identity card to be a convience of a sort and never a detriment.
The notion of not being required to carry an identity card (or papers) is an eighteenth century notion born of a time when we had open and mostly lawless frontiers. That time and that frontier are gone forever.
Ironically, it seems to me, those who are most vehemently opposed to national identity cards are first in line to complain of the unfettered, unchecked flow of immigration, the failure of law enforcement to enforce the law, and the missappropriation of social services by those who aren't entitled to them. Get real, you can't effectively manage any of these without a comprehensive means of identifying people.
I for one, want the government to curtail illegal immigration (and legal immigration for that matter), to lock up all of the criminals, and to prevent our tax money from going to those who aren't entitled to it.
Our immigration policies are another legacy of the eighteenth century. We no longer have any frontiers to fill up...Why do we need it? Take notice the two countries with the most terrorists (U.S. & Germany) have the most immigration.
We need to take a new look at immigration. At the very least every immigrant's background should be thoroughly documented and, indeed, they should be required to carry a card tied to that background on them at all times.
So, if you need to carry an identity card, already are carrying an identity card, carrying an identity card can be a convenience, and carrying an identity card can help with the immigration problems, why not a national identity card?
If my left hand isn't shackled, there is still the chance of freeing my right hand with it and escaping total servitude to the wall. Why would you be willing to let them lock up both of your hands?
I would like to see more monitering of our Immigration policy as opposed to simply squeezing native born American citizens.
This has the potential to intrude on the lives of millions of Americans with few benefits on the War on Terror. Personally I'd like to see other policys implemented that might aid tracking terrorists better one being better cooperation with InterPol. One of the hijackers was already linked to a bombing in Tel Aviv and one had an extensive history of associations with terrorist groups in Europe and abroad. However, this is a War. And I stand with the President. If this is something that is required, then for the safety and security of my country I will support it.
But first some quick facts.
The 19 hijackers who seized American airplanes last week and flew them into history's biggest and bloodiest terrorist attack slipped across U.S. borders easily enough. The FBI reports that at least 15 of the 19 hijackers entered the United States on business or tourist visas. Other terrorists seem to have entered on visas that were legal enough but to have overstayed them after the visas expired. Virtually nothing is done today to apprehend or control aliens whose visas have expired.
Oftentimes Immigration and "Open Borders" policies are fast tracked through the legislative process without the public knowing they are even being passed. I think for the sake of our security its time to let our votes count and let the legislature know that they are not seeing eye to eye with the American public on immigration and border security in our country.
Below are some links to groups working for Immigration reform.
Please !Vote! and make a difference. P.S you'll have to copy and paste these as Im still learning my HTML ; P
http://www.numbersusa.com/index
http://www.fairus.org/
Stop and imagine the bureaucracy the federal government will create to produce, correct and update these 250 million plus cards. Think of the nightmare already happening in the 50 states when you try and get a driver's license renewed at your state's department of motor vehicles. Do you want this on a massive federal scale?
How are you going to force 11 million illegals to get these cards? We already have laws requiring employers to confirm citizenship. The laws are knowingly and willfully being ignored by employers who just want warm bodies at cheap wages to do their work. Also, how are you going to stop massive counterfeiting of the cards?
The United States already has plenty of laws on immigration. They are simply not being enforced.
You'll end up with 260 million law-abiding citizens (who don't need ID cards) obtaining them and another 20 million breaking the law as they do now!
More than 5,000 people would be alive today and the World Trade Center towers would still be standing if the United States State Department had not WELCOMED the foreign murderers into our country, and neglected to track their actions in the United States. This country has been under a credible threat of terrorism for years. The response of the federal government has been to hand visas out like candy to young middle eastern men who are the main source of murderous terrorism. Even since September 11th, NO CHANGES HAVE BEEN MADE IN STATE DEPARTMENT PROCEDURES ON VISAS!
A massive failure of the federal government to screen, list and track hundreds of thousands of foreigners is leading too many people to want that same incompetent federal government to set up another massive fraud called National ID cards!
and would vehemently appose such a notion if I thought it was possible to maintain the type of stable, civilized society I'm used to without them.
There is another far-fetched idea that might, just might work. The government could actually enforce current immigration laws and drastically tighten the flow of new immigrants.
And that says it all right there.
I don't beleive terrorism is going to stop, it will get worse before it gets better. I think the government will be doing a lot of things they haven't been doing in the past, at least I hope so.
If the FBI, CIA and other "alphabet soup" agencies were actually doing their jobs instead of living in an ADL "dream world" of "anti-militia" fantasies, we would have few problems.
It's usually wise to gum up the works of the all powerful bureaucracies of the world. . . as much as one can in some eras, contexts, contingencies. It may only slow them down a bit. But for some, that bit is life saving. . . as Hitler's Germany demonstrated repeatedly.
No card they're arrested. Now they have to guess that their illegal, take them in, fingerprint them and hope that something comes up on them.
Why should employers have the responsibility to inforce the law? Typical of government, pass the responsibility on to someone else.
Give them the tools to do the job.
Yes we already have ID cards. What concerns me rather than having one more, is the possibility that we will become a checkpoint society. A former coworker of mine who was in the Navy and travelled a great deal told me you can tell how free a country is by the amount of papers a traveller has to produce at the gate. Americans practically get waved through, while at the other end of the spectrum people produce wads of papers so thick they almost need two hands to hold it all.
I have no doubt that people who believe in the absolute power of government are going to move to make us more like those unfree countries soon, and they don't even consider it rude to exploit the recent tragedy to take away freedom. They are sure what they are doing is for the best. There are already seatbelt checkpoints where the cops ask you if you have a gun in your car. It is a small step to ask you then and there to surrender it when confiscation laws are passed. The noose is tightening.
Might is not good enough for me.
Why change our culture because of Might. I don't buy it.
It's just the same as gun registration.....really stopped the bad guys from getting guns didn't it? Lay out a scenerio where a national ID card could protect us from anything.
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