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Stop Worrying - You Can
Still Have
Elvis on Your Driver's License
Government/Frank
Salvato, Managing Editor |
May 13, 2005
- The REAL ID Act has many Americans, especially civil
libertarians, up in arms. They are concerned "Big Brother” has encroached
upon the fine line between security and intrusion. While we are all well
advised to guard against an ever-intrusive government, it serves no good
purpose to denigrate a piece of legislation simply because special interest
groups are attempting to persuade us into believing there is something
sinister afoot.
"We the People” have a responsibility to ascertain the facts about any given
issue before we storm the village square, flaming torches in hand. This
concept is called civic responsibility and our Founding Fathers envisioned
as a cornerstone of their grand design, a nation of people who would embrace
this notion.
In this age of instantly accessible information there really is no excuse
not to know the facts of the important issues of the day. Granted, we cannot
trust the mainstream media to provide information that isn’t slanted to the
bent of an agenda, but there are many other outlets we can access that will
offer us straight-forward accounts of the pressing issues of the day. In
fact, every piece of legislation, proposed and established, is accessible to
everyone on the Internet via the Library of Congress website.
When read, the actual verbiage of the REAL ID Act – devoid of the inserted
rhetoric of reactionaries – doesn’t set-up any super-secret clandestine
conspiratorial network. There aren’t any government minions sitting deep
inside any hollowed out mountain keeping tabs on what kind of milk we buy.
What it does is lay out some minimal requirements for the uniformity of
information that is already required by our respective Secretaries of State.
It reiterates that every state should cooperate with regard to the
reciprocal access of information when requested. And it sets a standard as
to what documentation is required in order to receive a driver’s license
that will be recognized by the federal government as a form of
identification.
Section
202(b) of HR1268 Title II states the minimum document requirements as:
- The person's full legal name.
- The person's date of birth.
- The person's gender.
- The person's driver's license or identification card number.
- A digital photograph of the person.
- The person's address of principle residence.
- The person's signature.
- Security features designed to prevent tampering, counterfeiting, or
duplication.
- A common machine-readable technology, with defined minimum data elements.
Further, Section 202(d) of HR 1268 Title II requires that individual
Secretaries of State:
- Capture digital images of identity source documents for electronic
storage.
- Retain paper copies of source documents for a minimum of 7 years, images
for 10.
- Subject each person applying to mandatory facial image capture.
- Establish an effective procedure to confirm or verify a renewing
applicant's information.
- Confirm any social security account number presented
- Refuse to issue a driver's license to a person holding one by another
state.
- Ensure the security of offices where drivers' licenses and ID cards are
produced.
- Employ appropriate security clearance requirements for employees.
- Establish fraudulent document recognition training programs for employees.
- Limit the period of validity of all non-temporary driver's licenses and ID
cards to 8 years.
- Afford other states access to information contained in the motor vehicle
database.
- Maintain a state motor vehicle database that contains, at a minimum: (a)
all data fields printed on drivers' licenses and identification cards issued
by the state; and (b) motor vehicle drivers' histories, including motor
vehicle violations, suspensions, and points on licenses.
Not included anywhere in this piece of legislation are provisions that
enable the government to acquire information we don’t already provide freely
to our respective Secretaries of State. So, I ask you, where is the heavy
hand of "Big Brother” in this piece of legislation? After actually reading
it "Big Brother’s” fingerprint is impossible to find.
Sadly, we’ve become complacent and generally accept the summaries and
reports of the mainstream media talking heads and special interest
organizations. Few of us take the initiative to seek out the facts. This
results in easy prey for those relying upon ignorance for their own gain.
The only people affected by the REAL ID Act are those who are here
illegally. The last time I checked entering or living in the United States
outside of immigration law was still illegal. Of course, that’s hard to
remember after listening to the spokespeople from organizations who insist
that illegal aliens have the same rights as citizens. I suspect that these
organizations, with a little help from the mainstream media, are the ones
spreading the "Big Brother” fear among those who are vulnerable
If "We the People” would simply educate ourselves on the issues, if we
sought out the actualities on the important issues of the day, hysteria the
likes of what we are hearing over the REAL ID Act wouldn’t exist. If "We the
People” would embrace the concept of civic responsibility in the fashion our
Founding Fathers envisioned we could eliminate the ability of special
interest groups to manipulate public opinion and our laws to suit their
short sighted, tunnel-vision utopian aspirations.
In the end, to borrow a phrase from Franklin Roosevelt – a man who liked the
idea of personal retirement accounts, by the way – "we have nothing to fear
but fear itself.”
Related Reading:
Library of Congress: Thomas
http://thomas.loc.gov/
HR 1268, Sec. 1, Title II, Sec. 202
http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/query
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