"those who would give up essential liberty for temporary security deserve neither liberty nor security" -Benjamin Franklin
The National Identification (ID) Card has been the instrument of every despotic government in the world. History has shown that when central governments gain the power to monitor and control the actions of its peoples, they eventually use that power to impose totalitarian control over their populaces.
Since 9/11 in the USA, there has been renewed interest in the creation of national ID cards for American citizens. At the heart of such plans is a parallel increase in police powers.
A national ID card is, by all definitions, a form of internal passport. According to the American Civil Liberties Union, "it would create an easy new tool for government suveillance and could be used to target critics of the government".
The day is fast approaching where every American will be compelled to carry a national identification card. Without the new card, it may become impossible to get a job, board a plane, vote, cash a check, purchase a firearm, open a bank account, recieve federal benefits, check into a hotel, rent a car, ride a public bus, purchase gas or even log onto the internet. In actuality, it would be extremely difficult to live in society without one.
A national ID system would threaten and eventually eliminate 4th Amendment privacy protection rights that Americans have long enjoyed, as well as increase the control and leverage that government and business already weilds over the lives of everyday citizens.
Today's new National ID standards include the use of Social Security Numbers (SSN), fingerprints, biometrics, digital photos, barcodes and encrypted electronic strips. However, the SSN continues to be the primary national identifier for the American populace. Already, many federal agencies are mandated to use the SSN for identifier and record keeping purposes. These include; the Social Security Administration, the Internal Revenue Service, the Dept of Defense, the Dept of Health and Human Services, the Dept of Justice, the Dept of Energy, the Dept of Treasury, the Dept of State, the Dept of the Interior, the Dept of Labor and the Dept of Veterans Affairs.
The US Secret Service, the US Dept of Transportation, the American Association of Motor Vehicle Administrators, and most recently, the new US Dept of Homeland Security (OHS), the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) and the 9/11 Commission, have all been calling for the speedy implementation of a new national ID card for the American citizenry.
On October 8th, 2004, the US House of Representatives passed HR10 by a vote of 282 to 134, essentially creating a national ID card and subsequent database. Section 3052 mandates that the final step be taken to designate state driver's licenses as de-facto national ID cards. Section 2173 explicitly authorizes that an enormous interlinked computer database of personal and private information be established. In essence, HR10 creates a massive government record of information on every American man, woman and child from birth to death. It also sets up a system whereby any employer or industry would be required by law to submit employment applicant information to the Attorney General, the FBI and the Dept of Homeland Security for an invasive background check and for approval.
Representative David Drier (R-CA), co-chair of Californians for Bush and chairman of Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger's 2003 transition team, has recently introduced legistlation that would prohibit employers from hiring people unless job applicants first obtain a new federal ID card complete with photograph, SSN and electronic strip. Any employer who fails to comply faces a hefty fine (up to $50,000 per occurance) and prison terms of up to 5 years. Prospective employees could be denied employment if they have felony or bad credit records, and may be required to participate in state and/or federal programs designed to specifically pay off their debts to society. Government sponsored disapproval based on gun ownership and political incorrectness could also prohibit an employer from hiring an applicant thus blacklisted.
Despite such government informational tyranny, 7 out of 10 Americans support the creation of a new federal national ID card. In fact, many want it to go a step further so as to consolidate all ATM and Credit Card transactional use within the new card, thereby continuing to render all buying and selling instantaneous and cashless. This will, of course, create a massive database of information available on all aspects of every American's life and will most likely lead to not only the personal profiling of citizens, but to a quantum leap in the ability of government agencies to locate, monitor and track people, severely invading and violating constitutional guarantees on civil liberties and privacy.
In the commercial sector, E-Smart Technologies Inc., is developing a new "super smart card" which will allow for multiple applications to co-exist and operate on the same card. This prototype national ID card will include such functions as; social security card, birth certificate, driver's license, airport ID, pilot's license, fishing license, passport, student ID, medicare, insurance and welfare card, electronic wallet and e-payment card.
The 9/11 Commission in its report to Congress in July, 2004, recommended that the United States expand its internal security system into a larger network of physical checkpoints, dubbed "screening stations" near subways, airports, bus and train stations, federal buildings, telephone companies, courthouses, internet hubs and the like. Senator John McCain (R-AZ) has recently filed bills to implement the 9/11 Commission's internal security recommendations using the justification that federal law enforcement agencies and the intelligence community need immediate access to central database information to help identify potential terrorists.
Having to show a multi-purpose, computerized, instant 'deep data base' accessible national identification card capable of tracking citizens' financial transactions, location, movement and national security status etc... is a Nazi's wet dream come true. Although citizens who lacked proper identification could be immediately arrested in Hitler's 3rd Reich ("your papers, please"), failure to 'take the card' today would essentially render one a non-person, or "persona non grata" in society.
A federalized national ID card will make American citizens complete slaves to the central government in the USA, where faceless bureaucrats and information security specialists will be able to pry into every aspect of citizens personal and private lives, with the potential to control, monitor and track every move that one makes. This level of police state control is a psychotic pathology of the highest order. The only conclusion to such evil, wicked and malicious intent is the total, complete and forced submission and surrender of a citizen's freedom and sovereignty to the State.
The National ID Card is a prelude to a completely cashless (and cardless) money system in America and throughout the world, culminating in what is known in Christian scripture as the dreaded "Mark of the Beast" (see Revelations 13).
Steve Jones
P.O. Box 1141
Boulder, Colorado
80306
USA
SOURCES:
1. Privacy International
2nd Floor, Lancaster House
33 Islington High St
London, United Kingdom, N1 9LH
European Union
Website: http://www.privacy.org/pi/activites/idcard
2. Electronic Privacy Information Center
1718 Connecticut Ave- NW
Washington, DC 20009 USA
Website: http://www.epic.org
