Re: SC52

http://www.newswithviews.com/Yates/steven25.htm

"REAL ID" - REAL REBELLION BREWING

.............The Real ID Act of 2005 was passed by Congress not on its own (nonexistent) merits but folded into the larger Emergency Supplemental Appropriations Act for Defense, the Global War on Terror, and Tsumani Relief, 2005 (PL 109-13) as its Division B. This bill, which included appropriations for the Iraq War, was considered must-pass by Congress and signed into law by President Bush on May 11, 2005. This means that the Real ID Act was passed as the equivalent of a stealth measure—the sort of thing author Claire Wolfe called land-mine legislation in a classical article. The Real ID Act does not just federalize our driver’s licenses but hand them over to the Department of Homeland Security. It calls for the creation of mammoth databases of information on law-abiding U.S. citizens. It places state Departments of Motor Vehicles (DMVs) in the position of having to become domestic spies—and it does so without any thought to the resources required, much less the dangers (e.g., of identity theft). It was signed into law despite the opposition of dozens of groups all across the political spectrum.

An impact analysis released last September by the National Governors Association, the National Conference of State Legislatures and the American Association of Motor Vehicle Administrators is devastating. These groups show that efforts to implement Real ID will create a massively expensive logistic and bureaucratic nightmare. State DMVs have neither the technology nor the manpower to implement this gigantic unfunded federal mandate—nor the legal means to compel compliance from those they must contact to secure verification of documents. The cost to my state (personal correspondence from the executive director of South Carolina DMV) could range from $25 to $28 million, with recurring costs in the $10 million to $11 million range. The study just cited estimates the total cost of implementing Real ID at over $11 billion over a five year period, with upfront costs of around $1 billion! The costs to individual U.S. citizens attempting to obtain or renew a driver’s license? Unknown, although I have one estimate at $100!

This analysis overlooks a crucial point: the Real ID Act is unconstitutional! The Constitution does not give any branch or any agency of the federal government this kind of power! It should come as no surprise, however, if no one associated with this thing has read our country’s founding document. Thus, as matters currently stand, unconstitutional or not, Real ID goes into effect on May 11, 2008. When it goes into effect, here is what we are looking at: without a Department of Homeland Security approved conversion of one’s driver’s license or other personal ID into the Real ID, law-abiding U.S. citizens will not be able to board an airplane, open a bank account, collect Social Security, obtain a passport, enter federal buildings or otherwise do business with the federal government or other commercial endeavors requiring federally-mandated standards of personal identification............

............ The rise to prominence of a team promising a swift and Constitutional resolution to the potential Real ID train wreck and to larger issues involving the future of U.S. sovereignty could make 2008 a very interesting year, to say the least. Reflecting the concerns of a couple of other readers, I do hope that if Dr. Paul pursues his candidacy he hires some good bodyguards and surveillance people of his own—history shows pretty clearly that our ruling banking oligarchs place little value on the lives of those opposing their goals of world domination. They are not the only ones willing to threaten someone wanting to end our federal government’s present policy of open borders. Tancredo canceled a Florida appearance a few weeks ago because of a death threat. Matters could come to a head in this society in 2008. Will we continue our headlong rush towards corporatist enslavement, or begin the journey back to individual freedom under Constitutional government?