NATIONAL ID 1998

[Guest guest]

And we thought the National ID was a new thing to fight terrorism.....It's

been in the works since the mid 90's for compliance with the GATT treaty and

more all under the guise of doing good.

 

Ron Paul(R-TX)

 

Under the current state of the law, the citizens of states which have

driver's licenses that do not conform to the federal standards by October 1,

2000, will find themselves essentially stripped of their ability to participate

in life as we know it. On that date, Americans will not be able to get a job,

open a bank account, apply for Social Security or Medicare, exercise their

Second Amendment rights, or even take an airplane flight, unless they can

produce a state-issued ID that conforms to the federal specifications.

 

 

 

http://www.thenewamerican.com/tna/1998/vo14no17/vo14no17_id.htmVol. 14, No.

17

August 17, 1998

Table of Contents

 

A National ID

by William Norman Grigg

 

Proposals for national identification cards have always struck a raw nerve with

Americans. Defenders of privacy and civil liberties are quick to invoke

dystopian images of the dangers inherent in any system of national registration

of citizens. They properly point out that any such system would be blatantly

unconstitutional. Yet our nation is now dangerously close to just such a

reality, with all of the implicit incentives for the further concentration and

abuse of government power.

 

Congress in Action

 

In 1994, Congress enacted the Uruguay Rounds Agreements Act (H.R. 5110), to

facilitate the implementation of provisions of the GATT treaty. Title VII,

Subtitle E, Section 742, entitled " Taxpayer Identification Numbers Required at

Birth, " requires that dependent children be provided with an " identifying

number " in order to be claimed as tax exemptions. In compliance with GATT, then,

all children in the U.S. would be required to have an ID number (e.g. a Social

Security number) at birth.

 

In the meantime, a move was afoot to develop more efficient resources for

identifying, tracking, and locating deadbeat dads. H.R. 785, the " Child

Responsibility Act of 1995, " for example, provided for the establishment of a

national database for locating and tracking deadbeat fathers. The bill also

sought to restrict professional, occupational, and business licenses of parents

in arrears on child support payments, and to restrict the driver's licenses and

vehicle registration of noncustodial parents who do not appear in child support

proceedings.

 

H.R. 1214 contained similar provisions, with the additional directive that

states require Social Security numbers for the issue and renewal of marriage

licenses, as well as commercial, professional, and occupational licenses,

permits, and certificates. These two bills were eventually incorporated into

H.R. 4, which Congress passed in December 1995. After a presidential veto, a

nearly identical version of the bill (H.R. 3453, the " Personal Responsibility

and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act) was passed early in 1996 and signed

into law by the President.

 

Thus had Congress, in a few short years, begun a new and aggressive campaign to

convert the Social Security number into a national ID, in the name of compliance

with GATT and tracking deadbeat parents.

 

However, another politically attractive issue was providing an even more

tempting excuse for a national ID system: illegal immigration. The cover for

this latest, and most comprehensive, attempt at a national ID was the " Illegal

Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act of 1996 " (H.R. 2202). Hidden

in the bill's language were requirements that state driver's licenses and

identification cards be brought into conformity with certain federal standards,

including the use of federal Social Security numbers.

 

In other words, in the name of fighting illegal immigration, the GOP-controlled

Congress has foisted on the states the blatantly unconstitutional requirement to

convert driver's licenses and ID cards into de facto national IDs. Thus, Social

Security numbers will be required for all citizens who need to obtain driver's

licenses or to interact in any way with the federal government.

 

On June 17th, the Transportation Department's National Highway Traffic Safety

Administration (NHTSA) issued a directive to implement the driver's license-ID

provisions passed by Congress. Among other things, this directive contemplates

requiring all states to submit certificates of compliance to the Department of

Transportation by September 30, 2000. The directive also " urges states . to

adopt as many [security] features as possible, because the more features a state

includes on its driver's licenses and identification documents, the more

difficult it would be for individuals to counterfeit or otherwise misuse these

documents. "

 

Representative Ron Paul (R-TX) elaborated on this heavy-handed state of affairs:

 

Under the current state of the law, the citizens of states which have driver's

licenses that do not conform to the federal standards by October 1, 2000, will

find themselves essentially stripped of their ability to participate in life as

we know it. On that date, Americans will not be able to get a job, open a bank

account, apply for Social Security or Medicare, exercise their Second Amendment

rights, or even take an airplane flight, unless they can produce a state-issued

ID that conforms to the federal specifications.

 

Further, under the terms of the 1996 Kennedy-Kassebaum health-care law,

Americans may be forced to present this federally approved driver's license

before consulting a physician for medical treatment!... The establishment of a

" national " driver's license and birth certificate makes a mockery of the Tenth

Amendment and the principles of federalism. While no state is " forced " to accept

the federal standards, it is unlikely they will refuse to comply when such

action would mean none of their residents could get a job, receive Social

Security, leave the state by plane, or have access to medical care.

 

Even more chilling are suggestions that these new national ID cards will include

security features such as biometric identification devices - like fingerprints

and retina-scan data. Already, tamper-resistant ID cards containing biometric

information are being developed for Americans who live in remote areas near our

northern and southern borders. Such " border crossing cards " will contain

machine-readable biometric data that will be scanned by machines at border

crossings. Transferral of this technology to national IDs would be a simple

step.

 

Regarding federalism implications, the NHTSA directive notes: " This proposed

action has been analyzed in accordance with the principles and criteria

contained in Executive Order 12612, and it has been determined that this

proposed action would not have sufficient federalism implications to warrant the

preparation of a Federalism Assessment. " This statement is mere eyewash, since

the " Federalism Assessment " required by the Reagan-era affirmation of federalism

in Executive Order 12612 was explicitly revoked by President Clinton's Executive

Order 13083 of May 14, 1998.

 

Attempted Barriers

 

Fortunately, Congressman Bob Barr (R-GA) recently introduced legislation (H.R.

4197) to " repeal section 656 of the Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant

Responsibility Act of 1996, " thereby eliminating the legislative basis for the

NHTSA directive. Known as the " Citizen's Privacy Protection Act of 1998, " Barr's

bill would also, " notwithstanding any other provision of law, " prohibit federal

agencies from construing federal law as authorizing a national ID card.

 

However, even if Barr's bill is enacted, other avenues of attack remain open for

the proponents of a national ID and corresponding database. For instance, the

July 20th New York Times reported in a front-page story that " the Clinton

Administration is quietly laying plans to assign every American a 'unique health

identifier,' a computer code that could be used to create a national database

that would track every citizen's medical history from cradle to grave. " This

electronic code, the Times continued, " was mandated by a 1996 [health insurance]

law and would be the first comprehensive national identification system since

the Social Security number was introduced in 1935. "

 

Of course, there was widespread opposition to a national medical ID card when

the Clinton Administration attempted to introduce it as part of its failed

national health care plan in 1993. Which perhaps explains why the Administration

is now " taking a slow approach " according to Cambell Gardett, a spokesman for

Health and Human Services, the department charged with implementing the new

health identifier system.

 

A national ID has always been a cornerstone of totalitarianism. Unfortunately,

advocates usually have an appealing rationale for their implementation. Who,

after all, does not feel a need to protect children and spouses from

irresponsible fathers? Who could oppose vigorous measures against illegal

immigration? And, in the final analysis, why should more sophisticated, uniform

standards for ID cards be much of an issue at all? After all (goes the

rationale), this is America, not Nazi Germany.

 

But no matter how noble or politically attractive the cause, no federal law or

regulation is justifiable on moral or other grounds if it is unconstitutional in

the first place. Nor is an appeal to well-meaning but short-sighted leadership

an adequate excuse. After all, as Friedrich A. von Hayek once observed, the

problem with well-meaning rulers is that " they mean well, but they mean to

rule. "

 

The more we allow government to grow, the more we increase the likelihood that,

sooner or later, " benign " big government will be supplanted by totalitarian

rule. Little-remembered, for example, is the fact that unified Germany began to

experiment with socialism and welfarism under Bismarck in the 1870s. Who then

could have opposed state care for the needy, pensions, and the like, much less

envisioned Nazi totalitarianism 60 years in the future? Yet Germany ultimately

reaped a bitter harvest when conditions were ripe.

 

Americans ignore at their peril such matters as the promulgation of national

IDs. For the day may come when markets will fail, confidence will falter,

enemies will be arrayed against our nation, and technological innovation will be

smothered under the stifling weight of big government. Then, if we allow

potentially calamitous freedom-compromising legislation such as national IDs to

pass unchallenged, we will find ourselves and our all-encompassing federal

behemoth to be ripe for exploitation by totalitarian demagogues. Stopping the

national ID card now will be a significant measure in preventing such an evil

day.

 

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