Kudos to the Maine Legislature! InformationWeek Reports:
Legislators in Maine have refused to implement the Real ID Act and are calling on Congress to repeal it.
The Maine Senate and House of Representatives passed a joint resolution Thursday demanding the repeal of the law and announcing they were the first state lawmakers in the country to do so. The resolution states that the Real ID Act of 2005 would place an unfair financial burden on states, threatens privacy, and leaves citizens vulnerable to identity theft. It also states that the law, scheduled to take effect next year, fails to accomplish its mission of improving security.
The first thing to note is that Real ID, in practice, federalizes the driver’s license, which, under the limitations of the Tenth Amendment, has been a province of the states. It’s been this way since 1908 – when Rhode Island passed the first law in regards to driver’s licenses.
Without a doubt, REAL ID turns state departments of motor vehicles into delegates of the federal government. Making national “standards” for driver’s licenses creates a national ID system – nothing more and nothing less. Having your home state put its name on it is little more than an inconsequential smoke screen.
The REAL ID establishes a massive, centrally-coordinated database of information about American citizens – information that is highly personal – including physical characteristice, residence, social security number, date of birth and name.
Additionally, the Department of Homeland Security, a dubious federal office at best, is given the open-ended power to require biometric information on these licenses/ID’s in the future.
Remember, it’s not the the abuse of power that’s of the greatest concern, it’s the power to abuse! Once an open-ended power to do something sometime “in the future” is given – it’s nearly assured that some politician will eventually come along and abuse it to their advantage. The power to require biometric information on a federalized identification card leaves many dangerous possibilities open.
While the individual states are not technically forced to accept these standards, any refusal to comply will mean that their residents will lose the ability to get on a plane, receive social security, and potentially, to get a job.
So instead of creating a direct mandate on the states, the feds are blackmailing them into compliance and submission. Only in government is such activity legal. If you were openly engaging in blackmail, you’d probably be hauled off to jail in handcuffs. But that doesn’t happen to the politicians who make up the federal government.
The saddest part about the REAL ID act is that the Constitution was written to prohibit the federal government from exercising such power – direct, or implied. The long-forgotten 10th Amendment is clear. It states that powers not explicitly delegated to the Feds are reserved to the states or to the people.
Federal standards for drivers’ licenses – whether enforced through “law” or economic “incentives” (bribery) – show utter contempt for states’ rights and the principles of the Tenth Amendment.
Bottom line: REAL ID violates the 10th Amendment, which severely limits federal power. For now, though, REAL ID resistance must continue. As Maine Senate Majority Leader Elizabeth Mitchell stated:
“The federal government may be willing to burden us with the high costs of a program that will do nothing to make us safer, but it is our job as state legislators to protect the people of Maine from just this sort of dangerous federal mandate. I am proud that this state has led the way in taking a stand against Real ID.”
More people and more states must stand up to the federal government and say no!
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THE NATIONALISM OF ID HAS ALREADY HAPPENED! IT'S CALLED THE NATIONAL DRIVERS LICENSE REGISTRY. WHERE THE STATES GREED FOR MONEY BY MEANS OF TRAFFIC TICKET FEE'S, YOUR INFO IS LOADED TO THIS SYSTEM . IF U WANT TO STOP THE FEDERAL GOVERMENT U HAVE TO START WITH THE STATE GOVERNMENT . AS LONG AS THERE ARE IMPORT OF FORIEGN WORKERS AND OPEN BORDER'S AND DIVISION BETWEEN THE RACES SPECIALLY BLACKS AND WHITES COMMON CITIZENS, WE SHOULD JUST STOP COMPLAINING AND LET THEM SLOW KILL AND ENSLAVE US.
So Who are "The Feds"???? Somewhere in the quagmire of States rights there is supposed to be a constitution drawn up to grant States and Citizens certain rights to Liberty, Justice and the Pursuit of Happiness. When did we elect or appoint a dictatorial governing body to override our Majority Vote?
The country is being run by a 'for profit' government that began selling favors back with Dan Quail and hasn't lost any momentum to date. This can only happen if we ignore our duty to vote and understand what we are voting for. The country has a far different mix of voters and not even a common language. Not that that is different than it was in the Old Days, but there are too many powerful ethnic groups for us to have our attention misdirected by bickering and mistrust, while our country is looted and our self respect and National pride are sold to the highest bidder by a morally and physically corrupt Pack of Corporate Thieves.
We, as voters, (you did vote didn't you? I was sure you did) must take back the country from the "FEDS". It was meant to govern at the will of the people. Let's show our will. Let's flex our combined muscle, bury our fears and differences and vote as American for the American Way. Freedom for all, not just the people who look and talk like us. Those days are over. Let's not rewrite the constitution, let's honor it. It's not so bad
For two months I've lived in Maine. Before I moved here I believed Vermonters were the most independent, big-government despising citizens. With great satisfaction I've discovered at least as much independent thought, more local involvement in televised town meetings, budget meetings, etc. In spite of the Bush family's propriniquity here, there's a plethora of bumper stickers and signs that would "bother Barbara Bush's beautiful mind." For a few years I will be living in both Kennebunk and Palm Beach County, FL. The difference is like night and day. Trying to locate a meeting on any topic was impossible using their web site, Going to the office was an exercise in frustration; of the half dozen office workers there be one or two might have a vague recollection of hearing something aboutthe subject you're inquiring about. In short, to discover what new rules, statutes, taxes have been imposed upon us, we read about it in the paper, after it's a done deal. Kennebunk, Maine, unlike Florida's transient population, is full of people that have a genetic memory of local control of goovernment as well as town meetings that empower them, These meetings are advertised on a almost continue loop on local access t.v., filmed live, and shown multiple times after each meeting.
Just another example, like NCLB, of an unfunded mandate handed down from above. When we focus on the expense, extra work, etc. we miss the point. The issue is the Federal government ordering states to do the Fed'a illegal bidding. If a state wants to adopt a State ID (I can't imagine how a state would explain it's neccessity to it's constituents) but if a state actually had a good reason, that would be an issue for the people and the poloticians to work out. The Federal Government's goal for several years now has been the issuance of "Your Papers Please" documents to every American. In their parallel universe the states will eventually acquiesce, when we all have ID cards It won't be the states policing our obedience. Hell, maybe we don't have quite enough ways to turn people into criminals. Our prisons are bursting at the seams, but there's all those secret prisons KBR is building--"in the event of a mass, spontaneous immigration across our borders" Canadians have too much sense to even consider something so utterly insane. That leaves Mexico. Or maybe KBR was awarded the contract with something more along the lines of civil unrest or challenges to criminals who are in charge of these dehumanizing orders.
(Actually, perhaps Southern California, Texas and New Mexicoshould look at some variant of this ID system. But that would be their choice.)
I hope other states reject this new federal edict that will turn the DMV into a de facto arn of Homeland Security.
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