At 06:57 AM 9/24/01 -0700 Jim Sharkey wrote:
>>Bush administration (as well as the Brits) looking into a national
>>id card system. More at <http://www.drudgereport.com>.
>
>Glee! Another morning starting off with a stomach ache, courtesy of the
>Brin list. People in this country bitch about having to have a license to
>fish, drive a car, hunt, own a business, on and on and on, and they'd be
>willing to be forced to have what is essentially a license just to live and
>go about their business? I find that difficult to swallow at best.
>
>And 85% of British people polled were in favor of it? Can that even be
>right? I can't believe even Transparency fans will go for this, as it looks
>to me at least that this transparency is no where *near* a two-way street.
I missed the Drudge Report, and since this has not been in the mainstream
media - that I have seen, I have not seen the details. Nevertheless, I
don't have a problem with it.
First of all, we should all persuade ourselves right now that an ID Card is
not an infringement upon our rights. I've never heard of the right to
have an unverifiable identity. The fact that people imagine such a right
to exist is mind-boggling to me.
Secondly, we should all persuade ourselves right now that this will not be
a dramatic departure from the present. Who here has a Birth Certificate?
Thought so. How about a Social Security Number? Yup. Anyone have a
Driver's License? No surprises there either. I'm sure more than a
handful of us also have passports. O.k. now who has a credit card? More
than one? Ever notice how those are used as ID's on the Internet?
Thirdly, we should all consider that ID Cards might ENHANCE freedom.
After all, what is freedom when you can not trust and verify the identities
of those you deal with? Just think for a moment how many aspects of our
everyday life rely upon verifying the identity of those we deal with......
every purchase made without cash..... certification of education......
banking....... driving..... the list goes on.
Now, let's consider how flimsy the verification of identity is in this
society. Indeed, has it never struck anyone as odd that the *ultimate*
source of identification in this country is the birth certificate,
something that is almost laughingly easy to forge? Meanwhile, our most
common form of identificaiton is the driver's license, something that a
good portion of our high school students have acquired forgeries of.
So, what's the big deal? In my humble opinion verifiable identities are a
*good* thing, and it only makes sense that we would rely upon our
government to provide them.
JDG
__________________________________________________________
John D. Giorgis - [EMAIL PROTECTED] - ICQ #3527685
"Freedom itself was attacked today, and Freedom will be Defended."
-U.S. President George W. Bush, 09/11/01
