It's interesting that this post has provoked so much controversy, and two other threads as well! I am disappointed that so many of you don't see the danger of giving up your liberty for a little false security.

Edwin

"If you love wealth more than liberty, the tranquility of servitude better than the animating contest of freedom, depart from us in peace. We ask not your counsel nor your arms. Crouch down and lick the hand that feeds you. May your chains rest lightly upon you and may posterity forget that you were our countrymen.”—Samuel Adams

 

Excuse me? How are we giving up any liberties by proving we're authorized to obtain a license?

 

This may come as a shock, but there was a time in this country when a License wasn't required to drive a vehicle. Now you have to have one to travel at all unless you walk. How long before you're required to have an ID on your person and show it on demand?

Why is a license to be required to simply live and breathe? To work and earn a living? to get medical care? To vote?

You don't even know what you've lost. That is the really sad part.

Edwin

 

Pardon me. But no one, not one single individual in this country, has the right to drive. It's a priviledge. No where in our Constitution does it state that all citizens have the right to drive.

And in the interest of safety and road maintenance, licenses were created to 1) help pay for the road repairs, and 2) help ensure certain safety requirements were met prior to your driving. There's been no loss of freedom. There's been no loss of liberty. You do not have to drive. You do not need to have a license.

 

See what I mean. Try to find in Article 1, Section 8 of the constitution where the federal government was granted the power to regulate drivers licenses. Our constitution grants the government only certain limited powers and requiring a national ID isn't one of them.

But they won't make it a requirement that states adopt it, they just say that the states can't get their cut of the federal highway taxes if they don't go along. Our state governments are being bribed with OUR money.

Encroachments on Liberty are always couched in terms of safety. "We make roads safe by requiring drivers to pass a test to get a license." Then there comes into being a new law establishing a de-facto national ID. All in the name of safety.

Gun rights are infringed in the name of safety. Excuse me! But what part of "shall not be infringed." don't you understand?

The mere fact that people don't scream at the top of their lungs about these little infringements on their liberty is the sad part. They resort to muttering the same justifications for the loss as the politicians did but seldom is any real thinking done.

When I was a teenager, I could get on a plane by simply buying a ticket. No ID was even asked for. Then I had to go through a metal detector. Now I have to remove my shoes, take everything out of my pockets and submit to a pat down or worse.

I fly as little as possible but soon I'll have to present my "license" to buy fuel or cross a state line. I won't be able to buy ammo for my guns and eventually I'll need to get any unregistered guns licensed or face felony charges if I'm ever caught with it or God help me, I have to defend my life. In Great Britain getting caught with a pocket knife means jail time. I had to leave my Swiss Army Knife at home.

When the states tie all these databases together, what's to stop them from cross checking your license to drive with your medical records and deciding you're to feeble to allow to drive? If you're on Zoloft, they may consider you at risk for road rage. If you have a heart condition you're at risk of having a heart attack.

You don't know what you've got until it's gone.

Edwin

 

This is EXACTLY why once I'm rich and famous I'm moving me an my wife to Costa Rica. Get the heck away from all this B.S.
I would say that I may retire there, but once Bush screws up whats left of the raped and pillaged S.S system, I may not have a "retirement".

Were Screwed, this is just the tip of the iceberg folks. Face it, soon there will be better, safer, more democratic places to live OTHER than America.

 

Yeah, like China? Hong Kong maybe.

Please don't get me wrong. I love America and the principles upon which it was founded. I learned those principles back when they were actually taught in school. BTW, USA is a constitutional Republic, NOT a democracy.

So why is our government trying to spread democracy? Democracy has become synonymous with Liberty when the opposite is largely the case.

I just hate what America is becoming (has become?). A Police State where everyone has a number and must show ID on demand.

I don't know about Costa Rica. I hear it's nice. I prefer to stay here and fight for my liberty. Whatever is left or how many misguided people tell me I'm crazy and a traitor for simply wanting what we have lost over the years.

Edwin

 

How is the government regulating driver's licenses? All the government is saying is you must be legally in the US to obtain one. How is that regulating your ability to obtain a license?

 

Go back and read the first post. DOH!

 

The first post is full of half truths, speculation, and hyperbole. How about some factual information for a change?

 

Well, other than what the law says, the future effects of the law by definition MUST be speculation. Given the history of how governments operate I tend to believe the worst even with laws that have the best intentions.

Here's another perspective on the de-facto national ID and it's bad effects.

http://www.schneier.com/blog/archive...5/real_id.html

Edwin

 

have you guys read the bill yet? I think this is a valid link

dl bill

I really don't like this machine readable requirement. Too easy to steal info. I think a whole new wave of ID theft is about to happen.

On the bright side, if I read this correctly the state doesn't have to comply with this but your ID won't be good for any federal purposes. So I guess the states would have to drag out their old state to state agreements or you could only drive legally in your home state.

On an even brighter note: the states are only going to be required to hold onto paper copies of your paperwork for 7 years or electronic copies for 10 years. That makes me feel better because it gives the crooks enough time to figure out how to break into the files. Wouldn't want to inconvenience the thieves.

So, please don't come after me until you read the bill. Then, please ask yourself:

do you feel safer now?

 

Still don't think we need something like this?



Since when does Mexico dictate our policy? Know why they're angry? The easy influx of dollars and their inability to allow illegals to come into our country. Read more about it in the Financial Times.

 

You'll get your wish I expect, but I don't think you'll like it as much as you think you will.

I confess that the response to my post was completely unexpected. I am at a loss for words to describe my opinion of those like you who welcome the coming police state. I am profoundly saddened that people such as you have come to form such servile and fearful and cowardly psyches.

You needn't worry about buying guns. Private ownership will be outlawed since the police will be the only ones who can be trusted to have them.