National ID update
Well, if the nation's governors won't stand up on the issue of bleeding the National Guard, a few state legislatures are standing up on the issue of a de facto national ID card.
Not that the goons at Homeland Security give a whit. They're pressing ahead with plans to impose a uniform standard for driver's licenses in the name of — what else — fighting terrorism. Washington, Montana, and Idaho are all putting up stiff resistance, enshrining their non-compliance in law, while other states are passing non-binding resolutions saying the single standard is a bad idea. But DHS figures it'll win out in the end:
Mr. Knocke, the spokesman for the Homeland Security Department, predicted that reluctant states would come around because people would demand it. Without the standardized licenses, they would need a passport to board an airliner, he said.
“Residents of non-Real ID-compliant states are going to displeased with their leadership,” he said.
Another blow to one of our most crucial founding ideals — limited power of the national government, with ample leeway for states to go their own way. To say nothing of the Big Brother aspect to the whole thing, of course.
Update 5/10: A move's afoot in Congress to repeal the law that mandated the uniform driver's license. Perhaps not surprisingly, the ID provision was attached to a totally unrelated bill dealing with Iraq war funding and tsunami aid.
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