Patriot Act and Real ID Act
Here is my position on the Patriot Act and the Real ID Act: they are nothing but a control on the civilian population. If Bush were serious about protecting the country, he would hit the problem at the source- at the border.
We are seeing a systematic assault on our liberties. The government searches us illegally every time we fly, and we tolerate it because it supposedly makes us safer. And since we have done nothing wrong, we have nothing to fear, right? It scares me how many rights people will give up in the name of feeling safe. Once the government has these powers, they will not give them back to the people. It just doesn't happen.
The Real ID Act allows the federal government to set standards for drivers licenses. This gives them the power to decide what information is stored on the license, and how it is stored. I don't mind electronic storage, but RFID type technology on my license scares me. It will allow anyone in the government with a reader to "read" this information as you pass by them. This CAN happen, and it WILL if we don't stop it. I am all for restricting drivers licenses to legal residents, but this is simply not the way to do it. This gives the federal government way too much power.
Put simply, I do not and will never trust the government. The founding fathers did not (hence checks and balances, and hence the 2nd amendment), and I will not ever trust them either.
We are seeing a systematic assault on our liberties. The government searches us illegally every time we fly, and we tolerate it because it supposedly makes us safer. And since we have done nothing wrong, we have nothing to fear, right? It scares me how many rights people will give up in the name of feeling safe. Once the government has these powers, they will not give them back to the people. It just doesn't happen.
The Real ID Act allows the federal government to set standards for drivers licenses. This gives them the power to decide what information is stored on the license, and how it is stored. I don't mind electronic storage, but RFID type technology on my license scares me. It will allow anyone in the government with a reader to "read" this information as you pass by them. This CAN happen, and it WILL if we don't stop it. I am all for restricting drivers licenses to legal residents, but this is simply not the way to do it. This gives the federal government way too much power.
Put simply, I do not and will never trust the government. The founding fathers did not (hence checks and balances, and hence the 2nd amendment), and I will not ever trust them either.
posted by Calan at 21:26
2 Comments:
I agree whole heartedly!
In this land of the free, our government has determined that the only free people should be illegals. Free to roam and do as they please while stripping us of our liberty and freedom.
Here is a post I found at Packing.org:
Rep. Ron Paul got it right. H.R. 418 is not about immigration control as much as it is about citizen control.
Last week, the U.S. House of Representatives voted 261-161 to send H.R. 418, the so-called "REAL ID Act of 2005," over to the Senate. The bill federalizes the issuance of drivers' licenses, an activity which until recently has always been a state function. Because no American will be able to fly, take a train or buy a gun from a dealer without a driver's license that meets the federal standards in the bill, H.R. 418 has effectively created a National ID card.
The bill's future in the Senate is uncertain at this time, although Rep. Paul's office has told Gun Owners of America that House leaders are contemplating whether to attach H.R. 418 as an amendment to the tsunami relief bill.
Lambasting the bill on the floor of the House last week, Rep. Paul noted that the legislation gives authority to the Secretary of Homeland Security to expand the required information that goes into drivers’ licenses, including "such biometric information as retina scans, fingerprints, DNA information, and even Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) radio tracking technology."
Should this happen, it would mean that the federal government "would know where Americans are at all times of the day and night," Paul said.
Moreover, H.R. 418 requires the U.S. government to share our personal information with Canada and Mexico. Paul was flabbergasted. "There are no limits on what happens to the database of sensitive information on Americans once it leaves the United States for Canada and Mexico -- or perhaps other countries," he said. Paul wondered if crooked Mexican officials would soon be able to sell thousands of identity files, including our Social Security numbers, to alien criminals.
Rep. Paul also informed his House colleagues about the dangers this bill poses to gun owners, noting that H.R. 418 contains no prohibitions against including "a person's appearance on a registry of firearms owners" in the National ID card.
"H.R. 418 does what legislation restricting firearm ownership does," Paul said. "It punishes law-abiding citizens. Criminals will ignore it.
"H.R. 418 offers us a false sense of greater security at the cost of taking a gigantic step toward making America a police state."
If the President and Congress were serious about cracking down on alien terrorists, they would (for starters) get serious about securing our border. But while Congress funded an additional 2,000 border guards last year, the administration has stated it will only seek to add 210 new guards.
And while Congress has enacted armed pilots legislation to combat the threat of terrorist hijackers, the administration has fought this proposal every step of the way. As it stands today, there are many pilots who simply refuse to jump over all the hurdles that the administration has erected for those pilots who want to carry firearms in the cockpit.
"It seems disingenuous," said GOA Executive Director Larry Pratt, "for our elected officials in Washington to claim they are interested in stopping illegal immigrants from operating in our country, when they have refused to perform the most basic tasks to effectively secure our border."
ACTION: Please contact your Representative to either thank him for opposing H.R. 418 or to take him to task for supporting it. The GOA Legislative Action Center -- at http://www.gunowners.org/activism.htm -- will help you to automatically send the correct message to your legislator.
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