Quote:
Originally Posted by Richard
Say I was born in this country and have lived here all my life. For personal or maybe religious reasons, I have no ID with a 'picture' on it. I choose to either walk, hitch rides, or use public transport to go wherever I need to go, lead a conservative lifestyle, obey the law, work, have a SS card and pay taxes, and handle all financial transactions with cash money. I make ends meet, do not have cable or satellite TV, do not have a phone, and have little money to spend on things beyond the necessities of living as a free American.
I have a certified copy of my birth certificate, graduated from 12 years of public schooling, registered with the SSS when I turned 18, and am a registered voter who has voted in every election since I was of voting age.
And now somebody (in this case, being the gang of political good idea fairies currently nesting in Austin) won't allow me to vote without paying a 'poll tax' in that I have to go to the nearest state government facility which can issue me an 'officially recognized picture ID' - which I have to pay for and may be a great distance to travel and may be against my personal religious beliefs to hold - before I can exercise my constitutional right as a full citizen to be able to vote in public elections?
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QP Richard,
You raise a good point, however, as QP Destrier stated, you need an ID for most things in this country, even an "on the books" job which pays cash will require some form of ID for employment. Hell, in NYC "Stop and Frisk" without an ID can land you in the tank for 24 hours 'till they sort out who you are
(On the topic of permits in NYC, at this rate I will probably have left NY by the time my long gun permit processing is complete
) /End Rant
Quote:
Originally Posted by Richard
It always amazes me when ffolkes who so vehemently decry government intrusion into their personal lives, as well as any perception of creeping socialism or eroding civil liberties, are so ardently in favor of going along with something like this "must have an officially recognized picture ID" movement.
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This brings back memories of the REAL ID battle some years ago.
MOO: That said, I don't see this as a contradiction in terms. On the one hand, you don't want the GOV to have this massive database of every person in country(which they already do), and if you aren't in it, you are SOL, on the other hand, ensuring that those who have legitimate right(read citizen) to receive services or participate in government do so, and others(read illegal aliens) are turned away.
I believe it was Sun Tzu who wrote "Trust is a delicate flower and we need to stomp it out before it destroys us."; since we can no longer trust people(hell, most of the time we can't even trust the government that issues said credentials) to say they are who they are, there still needs to be some form of (real-time) authentication in place, and the best we have got at the moment is government issued identification.
As far as the timing, I call BS as well. This administration has a history of purported ballot stuffing...
There is a reason why identity management is a multi billion dollar industry. It all goes back to that "dirty" five letter word: trust
My .002