NH fights backdoor National ID

A long-term goal of authoritarians in the U.S. government has been to establish a national ID that every American is required to carry. This has always been defeated - so the Republican Congress did an end-run. They passed the federal Real ID Act which requires states to verify documents used to apply for drivers licenses such as birth certificates, Social Security cards and passports. State drivers license databases with both information and photos are required to be linked to each other. This is intended to create an effective national ID by 2008. Resistance has centered in the individual states, supported by privacy advocates such as the American Civil Liberties Union, conservative privacy advocates and Christian fundamentalists. The strongest reaction has come from the New Hampshire legislature.

The Republican-controlled New Hampshire House has already strongly voted to bar the state from participating in the program. The similarly Republican-controlled Senate is expected to also pass a bill against participating in the program shortly. The Democratic Governor has not indicated his position either way.

Legislation in other states would condemn Real ID, but New Hampshire's bill is the toughest measure making real progress anywhere, Steinhardt said.

Republican state Rep. Neal Kurk, author of the bill against Real ID, gave a stirring speech during the debate.

"I don't believe the people of New Hampshire elected us to help the federal government create a national identification card," Kurk told the House. "We care more for our liberties than to meekly hand over to the federal government the potential to ennumerate, track, identify and eventually control."

Consider the Real ID Act along with the pending federal legislation to give CIA and NSA officers arrest power with no requirement for warrants. Add this to the NSA wiretaps and the secret overseas prisons, along with the effort by the federal government to crack down on leakers and on reporters they leak to (unless the leakers are the President or Vice President or those who support their attacks on political opponents) and we are really looking at a strange America. This is an America which is moving rapidly towards authoritarian government. But of course, Bush operates on the theory that there are no Constitutional limitations or check-and-balances on a President operating in his role as Commander-in-Chief.

We should support the New Hampshire legislature and get our legislatures to act similarly.