IT'S HERE!!!! All 50 states agree to upgrade driver's licenses

Boston Globe Online ^ | 1/14/02 | Ross Kerber

[Jethro Tull]

Officials from all 50 states have agreed to cooperate on upgrading driver's license security features, giving momentum to efforts to turn the licenses into de facto national identity cards.

The state officials may also seek $70 million or more in federal funds to study issues like how they might include data such as fingerprints or digital photographs on the driver's licenses, which are carried by more than 200 million Americans.

[philman_36]

And just one more with lots of info...
NATIONAL ID CARDS
Of particular note...On March 21, 1996, immigration bill HR 2202 was approved in the House . A modified version (S. 1664) was approved by Senate on May 2, 1996. The bills would create a national database and identification system to verify individual's employment eligibility. The ACLU has issued a press statement criticizing the proposal.

[philman_36]

Please tell us more about this National Employment Database.
Technically it is not called the "National Employment Database". I think that is just a pseudonym in common use.
It may have morphed into a whole new branch of names for which it is called since '96.

[philman_36]

Anything else or is that enough for you?

[Baseballguy]

As for the Libertarians, you can't have it both ways.

If Libertarians wanted a third party they would have one. I believe we like choosing by whom we agree most with. So most are un Demo or Un Repub since neither have true freedom in mind. WHen a Ross Pero comes along we jump there.

We dont abide by any rules of voting but what spirits moves us.

[Flyer]

How do we oppose this while maintaining our dignity and not becoming the nut case the family doesn't talk about?

Most of us do not want to do without a car. Without a drivers license I can't get insurance. Without insurance I can't the car registered or inspected. I WOULD go to jail to make a stand on principle, but I don't want it be a lifestyle (from continuing to drive that unregistered, uninspected, uninsured car without a license).

If I give up the license it also means I will have to operate on cash only. If I decide to operate in cash only - how the heck do I cash that check without the I.D.? Do I use public transportation to get to my "cash paid daily" job.

I own 3 acres of cleared land. I could take a sack of seeds and go live off the land, as long as I could come up with the money for the taxes. This is a very hard life.

What are the options for me other than to submit now and hope that we can make substantial changes in our Government sometime soon? Is it time yet so I SHOULD make major changes in my life, give up much of what I like about life in America and become the nut case the family doesn't talk about?

What are you going to do? Give up the license and all that goes with it? Submit now and fight it legislatively and in the courts? Take a sack of seeds and go live off the land?

[alpowolf]

Of course the govt regards anyone who lives on cash as a criminal. Just let some LEO catch you with more than $1.98 in your pocket and see what happens.

[Jethro Tull]

#49:

"Do you need a driver's license down there in the bunker?"

No, I'm the law in the bunker so I don't need no stinkin' license.

But I could use a certified aerosol can of "Pubbie Bullshit Repellent."

[Jethro Tull]

"How do we oppose this while maintaining our dignity and not becoming the nut case the family doesn't talk about?"

This is an excellent question and one I have no firm answer to.

My best answer is that we need to adopt a "Rosa Parks" kind of strategy. Simply put, civil disobedience is in order.

These are just some ways I see some people reacting to this mess.

1) There must be some way to destroy the information on these licenses. I'm sure some patriotic computer whiz will come up with something.

2) Suppose a few million people lose their licenses at the same time? By law, a police report must be prepared, then a temporary license must be issued. Time & money with this strategy.

3) Get the license, but leave it home. If stopped by the police, most PD's will issue a "failure to carry" summons, rather than a more expensive "unlicensed operator" summons. Plead innocent, go to court and help clog the system.

Civil disobedence is the answer...

[Jethro Tull]

I still know nothing about this.

[testforecho]

OK, let me get this straight. We are going to increase security by issuing tamper proof ID cards by using as proof of ID, easily forged documents. When this comes to be, just how are we to provide proof we are who we say we are. It would seem if the ID I now carry is good enough for the state to issue me a different ID, then there is no need for the additional ID.

Well, depending on how secure you want ID to be you would need a national birth/death registry and tamperproof birth certificates. (P.S. this isn't just me, the Heritage Foundation recommended the same thing last week)

[Jethro Tull]

#76:

"No, you can't have it both ways. Either we have the power to implement the LP platform, or we don't. Which is it?"

If you're a LP member, I presume you support the candidates and the platform.

If not, why call yourself a Libertarian?

[The Raven]

Now can we have our guns?

[sit-rep]

Sadly, the KOOKS were right once again

I resemble that remark...time to dig up some old threads lol...

SR

[MadRobotArtist]

Well, I can tell you that I'm not a kook, but I can tell you what I can see happening. Here's what I project to be the future of our country.

First, we get the smart ID card. All databases are linked into one system. Then, the Socialist Security and Infernal Revenue Service hooks into that same database. Then the National Employment Agency follows suit. Not to mention your biometric data and fingerprint. Now with all of that information, the government is one step away from doing away with cash money.

So with a touch of a keyboard, your life can be tossed into a huge mess. All it takes is one keystroke and the government can deny you anything. They can trash your entire life's savings, tax you into oblivion, keep you from driving a car, flying on a plane, taking a trip, anything it thinks up, it can do to your life.

So, your freedom is now in the hands of a bureaucrat. Let's say you are on Free Republic, and you write something unflattering, truthful but unflattering about an elected official. That official, if he or she doesn't like it, can then track you down by your ISP, and take away all your priveledges to drive, travel, get money, buy or sell anything. They would be in effect able to screw your life up in ways you never thought of.

That's what is wrong with this National ID system. It's to get rid of cash money, and the barter system. Effectively, it's a cash generator. If you bought a comic book, and then resold it on ebay for a profit, the government would tax it. Now, this would be okay, had that comic not already been taxed once before. If you do this for a living, I can understand it, however, the government is not allowed to tax things twice. If you buy a car, and then sell it later, that money that you paid for the car, has been taxed. If you sell that car privately, you should not have to pay taxes on that car again.

Now again, that is if you are not someone who does that for a living. Of course with the way things are going, pretty soon, you'll be taxed for just having money in your bank account. There's going to be a time when our leaders are going to look at the folly of trying to destroy what this country used to be. It will be again, a republic. Someday, Someday people will have to wake up. If they don't, well, then evil wins.

[philman_36]

I still know nothing about this.
Did you read any of the links I gave? It should fill you in if you read them.
Now that I think about it, how exactly do you mean you "know nothing about this". Are you talking about "first hand experience" or something? If so, is the only thing that will make you believe something exists is to put your hand in the wounds?
I gave plenty of links, try reading some and they will at least give you a general idea as to what it is about.

[Pistias]

And door locks, too! And your credit card, and your debit card, and your birth certificate, and medical history, and your firearms license...why not just make it all convenient?

[Uncle Bill]

BTTT

[alpowolf]

Do you agree 100% with absolutely everything your party's (whichever party you support) platform? I don't. In some cases the LP has the right basic idea but go farther than is practical. One such area is national defense, and another is immigration. I am guessing that I would support freer immigration policies than you would.

Now that's out of the way. You've missed (or are avoiding) the point I am actually making: the policy I support has never been implemented. So how is it at fault?