Tuesday, January 28, 2025

National ID card for Americans

     “I want to see two things in Los Angeles. Voter ID, so that the people have a chance to vote, and I want to see the water be released and come down into Los Angeles and throughout the state.”
          Donald Trump to reporters in North Carolina

Statewide ID cards? How about national ID cards?

In the 20th century, the people most actively opposed to national identification cards were people with a libertarian bent. They worried that a national ID card would mark Americans as slaves in an oppressive tyranny. A national ID card is associated with a tattoos on the arm given to prisoners at Auschwitz.


Now it is Democrats who oppose identification documents, mostly focusing on voting and legal presence in the country. That opposition to photo identification feeds the MAGA assertion that Democrats intentionally allow non-citizens to vote and that Democrats tacitly support and enable illegal immigration. 


I put up an "extra" post yesterday, showing farmworkers. It reflects my respect for them and their work. They are probably -- who knows? -- here without documentation of legal status. Their current "underground" status is demeaning to them and a source of political opposition and discord. I am pro-immigration. I would prefer they be brought out of the shadows. Give them legal status of some kind and give them proof of that status.

College classmate Erich Almasy wonders what is so objectionable about a national ID card. He is an expat, living in Mexico, and has written guest posts about retirement in San Miguel de Allende. 



Almasy


Guest Post by Erich Almasy


Donald Trump says California must establish statewide ID cards if it wants disaster relief funds. Nearly all 192 countries have national ID cards; only about eleven, including the United States, do not. The cards are usually mandatory, and non-conforming people are fined. Increasingly, these cards are fully digital, allowing immediate database searches for identity.



Mexican Driver's License


In México, each citizen is registered with a digital ID card when they turn eighteen. The card entitles the holder to vote in elections and registers them for health care and social security. The registration includes retinal scans, fingerprints, and voice prints. There are penalties for not having and carrying one. While I am not a citizen, and my municipality/state issues my Mexican driver’s license, it is a national document that requires the same input. As you can see, you aren’t supposed to smile. 


If DJT is serious about ID cards, he should propose a nationwide digital ID card with multiple forms of identification --  including DNA.  After all, even President Clinton had to provide his DNA. (In contrast, Trump refused to provide his DNA in his E. Jean Carroll trial.The problem for Trump is that his base of MAGA supporters would altogether reject any capability of the federal government to track them. Visions of confiscation of guns or the rounding up of right-wing activists would make such a program dead on arrival. 


Is a digital national ID card the ultimate manifestation of Big Brother as envisioned by George Orwell? Should Americans reject them as an infringement on their freedom despite the benefits of accurate censuses, verified elections, and enhanced criminal prosecution? I would favor their use, if only to end the ridiculous claims of conservative pundits about widespread fraud. 




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7 comments:

Mike said...

Let’s face it: the only reason tRump is attaching these conditions on federal aid to California is that he doesn’t like Gov. “Newscum,” as he calls him, and he made it quite clear that he fully intends to use the power of the federal government to seek retribution against those he doesn’t like.

But I do love this notion: “The problem for Trump is that his base of MAGA supporters would altogether reject any capability of the federal government to track them.” That’s one of the reasons they didn’t want the COVID vaccine – they were sure it was a government plot to inject them with microchips enabling it to track them and control their minds. Never mind that it can track them through their cell phones and social media already controls their minds.

Low Dudgeon said...

Does the national Real ID law have any bearing on this issue?

"In Mexico, each citizen..." I hope Mexico is hospitable to hard-working migrants from its poorer neighbors simply seeking a better life for their families there.

I too favor a national picture ID requirement, if only to override the ridiculous claims of some leftists that such a rule is oppressive, discriminatory, even racist.

Mike said...

No more ridiculous than President Reagan's claim in 1981 that it's "the mark of the beast."

M2inFLA said...

I have several forms of state and federal IDs:

- a REAL-ID compliant Florida driver's license that helps me establish a bank account, prove I am a resident for city, county, and state government resources; unlike Oregon, I did not have to pay extra for a REAL-ID compliant licenses.
- I have a US issued passport that lets me travel all over the world
- I have a resident ID that gets me into all the recreational and sports activities here. Some are free, and others have a fee. For my visitors, I can get them free guest IDs for short visits
- I have credit cards and ATM cards that prove I am permitted to not only use my primary bank, but also use at all their partner institutions

Could I live without any form of ID? Me, no. Some people do however that any official form of ID is an imposition on that person. Their word should instead be trusted.

Services like Apple Wallet and Google Wallet let me store some of those IDs on my cell phone. I use that a lot so I don't have to pull out my wallet. There's a bit of security, so I trust the apps.

I would welcome a state or federal ID that could keep track of all of those separate cards that fill two wallets.

If we all were truthful, or could remember everything specifically, we wouldn't need any ID, right?

How do people live these days without any for of ID?

Anonymous said...

State's rights...hmmm

Mike said...

Regarding those videos you posted of people picking our crops: It’s a job Americans wouldn’t stoop to do, so It’s they’re most likely undocumented Mexicans or, as Trump calls them, rapists and murderers. Once he deports them, he’ll probably have some quack revise the federal dietary guidelines to reassure us that we don’t really need all those fruits and vegetables after all. An alternative might be to resurrect chain gangs, from back in the days when America was great.

Michael Trigoboff said...

I definitely support a national id.