Libertarian Party of Connecticut

REAL ID:
INTRUSIVE LEGISLATION

By Marc Guttman Published on 2/17/2008 in The Day

In 2000, a friend and I after reuniting in Nepal decided to explore Tibet and did some of the hardest traveling either one of us had ever done.

While food, water and life-comforts on an undeveloped high altitude desert plateau are difficult to find, what made the traveling more difficult was the Chinese government. One is allowed to travel in Tibet only with a visa and a government guide service, but we obtained 4-day visas to visit the holy city, Lhasa. After spending a few days there, John and I started our three-week walk back to Nepal along the ironically named Freedom Highway.

Few truck drivers would pick us up for fear of punishment. We often would hide underneath sandbags in the back of trucks. Furthermore, there were occasional checkpoints. Fortunately, at the very first checkpoint, the guard did not figure us for national threats and allowed us to “purchase” travel visas. Gladly we avoided prison and had a remarkable experience.

Didn't think it would happen here

I never dreamed I would live under this kind of authoritarianism and have to “present my papers” at home. But, on May 10, 2005, U.S. senators voted unanimously, without debate, to pass the unconstitutional Real ID Act that had stealthily been written into a military appropriations bill.

The legislation requires national standards for state-issued driver licenses that will serve as security tools. Homeland Security officials argue that to ensure the authenticity of an ID, it must be checked against secure government data. The act makes it more difficult for terrorists, illegal immigrants, and con artists to obtain government-issued identification.

An applicant must provide several certified identification documents. Digital images of these will be stored in each state's database and must be shared with other states and federal agencies, establishing a centrally coordinated database of highly personal and sensitive information. Our information will be stored in a scanable chip on our cards.

The legislation also grants open-ended authority to the Secretary of Homeland Security to impose additional standards in the future, including biometric information, such as retina scans, fingerprints, DNA information, or radio frequency tracking technology.

This legislation, with estimated costs to the states of tens of billions of dollars, essentially blackmails state governments, as citizens of states that do not comply will lose their rights to board airplanes, open bank accounts, obtain employment, or enter federal buildings. They also cannot apply for Social Security benefits. Federal funding to state governments can be withheld. Seventeen states have passed resolutions rejecting the Real ID Act.

To some these measures seem to be reasonable and effective methods to protect us. Others of us have serious concerns about the protection of our 4th amendment rights to “be secure in (our) persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures” without “probable cause.” Libertarian hero, Congressman Ron Paul, argued against this legislation declaring the tactic ineffective and more than a minor invasion of our privacy, “While I agree that these issues are of vital importance, this bill will do very little to make us more secure. It will not address our real vulnerabilities. It will, however, make us much less free.”

Would these ID's really improve our security at the cost of a little liberty? Some security experts doubt it. Lawbreakers generally do not obey laws and will obtain forgeries or obtain legitimate cards with false documents or by bribing bureaucrats.

Legislation will infringe

Reasonable identification standards may at times be appropriate, but this legislation is too intrusive and there is real potential for abuse. It's rational to be concerned about how these IDs will infringe on our constitutionally guaranteed rights and their use to track law-abiding citizens who obtain them, rather than criminals.

Would not someone who purchased a gun legally essentially be added to a national gun registry? What about people who wish to attend in anonymity events, such as an anti-war or anti-government protest, a pro-choice or pro-life demonstration, a gun show, or a grocery store?

There are also no prohibitions against including such information in the database. Innocent people may end up on “no ride” or on broadly defined “terrorist” lists to be determined by whoever is in power at the time. Will the IDs serve as an internal passport with domestic checkpoints? This is all inappropriate in a free society.

Every time we present our identification, we would be providing our personal information. Is it unlikely for our information to be stolen from a database by hackers or sold by corrupt bureaucrats? What if someone loses his or her card? What happens when the database has internal errors or catches a virus and goes down?

True threats and violent people

There are true threats from violent people who wish to harm us. Making ourselves less free, however, does not protect us. The ultimate in security is jail and the slave labor camp. There is no moral median between these and true freedom. Benjamin Franklin rightly stated, “The society who gives up liberty for security will wake up one day with neither!” Many forget that a free people are a rare thing throughout world history and that we must be vigilant in defending our liberty. We are incrementally losing our Constitution and freedoms.

A foreign policy of nonintervention, peace, and free trade would protect us significantly better than an authoritarian police state. Our protective agencies should utilize their legal resources to capture and restrain violent criminals rather than punishing law-abiding citizens. There are constitutional methods available to them to accomplish their tasks. Connecticut, if we are to preserve our individual liberties, we too should reject the Real ID Act.

Marc Guttman is an emergency physician and vice chairman of the Libertarian Party of Connecticut. He lives in East Lyme.

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