Judge Janet C. Thorpe, a Florida Circuit Court Judge, issued a ruling that rejected Sultaana Freeman’s request that she be allowed to wear her niqab – a Middle Eastern veil that only exposed her eyes – when she took her Florida State driver’s license photo. While this decision appears to be a victory for those who are proponents of common sense, it didn’t address the obvious; a driver’s license is a privilege, not a right.

Thorpe addressed the matter of public safety in her ruling stating that it must be possible to identify a person by their facial features on a driver’s license. This makes sense. A driver’s license is an accepted form of identification beyond that of operating a motor vehicle, it would bear to reason that the license holder be identifiable in its picture.

Note: Many nations in the Middle East require women to remove their veils before they can get any type of picture identification from the government.

The big thing here is the fact that someone had the nerve to bring a suit against the State of Florida, or any state for that matter, objecting to the need for adherence to procedure and requirement when the item they are applying for is a privilege and not a right. The State of Florida doesn’t have to issue her a license, period. Conversely, she is not required to have one. Attaining a driver’s license is a privilege. By not satisfying the requirements of application she is out. Finished. Done. That should have been what the ruling was all about. No rights were violated because "rights” weren’t the issue, common sense was.

It is a dangerous time we live in when people start assuming that privileges are rights. It is quite arrogant to assume anything is due to you in the first place. But our society, with all of its "not-my-responsibility” tendencies has opened the door to this type of thinking and has become the "enabler” for a generation of people who believe that they are "entitled”. The simple fact is, no one should consider himself or herself "entitled” to anything that their hard work and dedication hasn’t afforded them. To believe otherwise is to expect someone else to shoulder your burden. While many of us are willing to help those out who need it, we also become quite perturbed when our kindness is expected.

Ms. Freeman is an Islamic convert. Her original name was Sandra Keller. This is not to pin the blame for her assumptions on the fact that she is a convert to Islam or on the fact that she chooses to worship in the Islamic faith. It’s a plain and simple truth that proves this is not a case of a foreign national coming to the United States and demanding that we accept their culture at the expense of our rules, regulations and procedures. It is quite the opposite. It is an American who is too caught up in her own world to accept the fact that we live in a society that has rules, requirements and processes that must be met should one want to be included in privilege.

As for Ms. Freeman/Keller, I thought all the half-wits gravitated towards the left coast. How surprising. Perhaps it is the sun.

(Before you write, I didn’t say that everyone who lived on the left coast was a half-wit but that most half-wits gravitate toward the left coast…big difference. And I am not saying that Sandra is a half-wit for converting either).

Frank Salvato is a political media consultant and the managing editor for The New Media Journal.us. He is a contributing writer for The Washington Dispatch, GOPUSA, OpinionEditorials, Men’s News Daily, Canada Free Press & AmericanDaily. His pieces are regularly featured in Townhall.com. He has appeared as a guest on The O’Reilly Factor, The Kevin Matthews Radio Show (Chicago) and The Brad Messer Radio Show (San Antonio). His pieces have been recognized by the Japan Center for Conflict Prevention and are occasionally featured in The Washington Times and The London Morning Paper as well as other national and international publications.