I rented a car in Boston and all I had to show was my British Licence and passport.
On the other side of the coin, I rented in Spain and didn’t show anything!!
Birth certifictes started in the 19th century. Now you are required by law to file such an identification of a birth, birth being a fairly fundamental exercise of human existence.
Drivers license were implemented slowly, over time, begining as an option.
Social Security numbers were begun with the express condition of not being used for the purpose of identification. For those who claim it is not a password, just call Bellsouth and give them the last four digits of my SS and you can get all my phone records.
These things, as well as national IDs, issued under the guise of voluntary, almost always become a means to verify entitlement, restricting rights and services of those without. Can a person be restricted or impeded from walking down a street becuase he has no identification ? You betcha. Tune into a viewing of “COPS” and see how free a person who is guilty of nothing, except failure to produce ID, is. Failure to posses a valid ID may not be a crime but it is enough to warrant detention until ID can be made. Of course detaining a person isn’t such a bad thing, considering that you have to be charged with something to remain in custody…wait…hmmmm…detaining people without charge. Interesting idea.
Maybe it’s because I work in social services, but I can’t even begin to describe what a hardship our (USA’s) more recent ID requirements have put onto low-income people. In an attempt (ostensibly) to crack down on illegal immigrants, it is now required that people prove their citizenship to receive food stamps, Medicaid, and other minimal, basic safety-net benefits. Many people who are impoverished, especially homeless people (who routinely get ALL their belongings - including ID - stolen) have undergone severe hardship simply because they don’t have the means to order their original birth certificate (sometimes upward of $20 and a 4-6 week wait) and/or replace lost/stolen state ID (in our state this costs between $29 for a state ID to ~$55 for a driver’s license). If you’ve never known what it’s like to have to scramble to come up with $5 or $10, you may not understand - but, believe me, for our poorest citizens, it’s an extreme hardship to require the purchase of ID.
Also, even without a national ID, it’s becoming more and more difficult to simply exist without having to show someone your papers. (Link is to an article by a man who was arrested because he did not provide a driver’s license, but only his name, to a policeman while NOT driving a car.)
What’s wrong with voluntary and rare becoming popular and compulory?
That’s how all laws evolve. First auto drivers licences were voluntary, then with the obvious benefits of having them they became compulsary. Passports had the same pattern much earlier.
Well, I think the question should be “What’s wrong with voluntary and rare staying voluntary and rare?” For what purpose should we surrender this portion of our liberty?
Reminds of something I heard repeated:
“Those who would sacrifice essential liberty for a little temporary safety, deserve neither liberty nor safety.”
I would credit that to Ben Franklin but I’m not sure.
Don’t confuse privacy with liberty. They are connected, of course, but distinct. And “You have zero privacy anyway; get over it.”