Seriously what would be the problem? The current setup is a silly hodgepodge that basically accomplishes the same thing, SSA has even dropped the pretense and changed the text that used to be on social security cards that said “not to be used as ID”. But you’ve also got each state issuing IDs with their own quirks, and then there is the issue that neither prove citizenship should you need to so pull out your birth certificate or passport.
What privacy issue that a national ID card would represent is not already present in the current system?
You should what advantage a national system would have over the current system.
Despite a couple dozen variations on “driver’s license” and “state ID”, my driver’s license from any state I happen to live in serves very well as an ID to prove residence, age, and authority to operate a motor vehicle. It’s accepted nationwide. For most purposes it will be accepted as proof of identity as well. In nearly 50 years in this country it’s all I’ve ever been asked for, except for traveling to and from Europe.
Most Americans don’t own a passport - they don’t have a need for one. They do have a birth certificate.
So, the typical American looks at the current situation and sees no need to change. They have the IDs they need already. Resistance to change is as much as factor as anything else. Add in that, no doubt, they’d be asked to cough up the money for the new card and they become even more reluctant. Why spend money to change something that’s working OK?
The only thing adding any incentive is the post-9/11 craziness/power grab that lead the DHS to want to shake things up, sometimes in a manner that leads people to think they’re more interested in justifying their paychecks than actually protecting the country.
We already have an ID system that’s more or less the same everywhere in the country, even though states issue the actual cards. It’s called REAL ID and it sucks for anybody who doesn’t have perfect documentation of their citizenship, identity, and address. Why would a national ID card suck less?
I don’t see why it would be more expensive. One national system vs. 50 different statewide systems. 50 different types of cards/IDs/paperwork stored in 50 different databases vs. one document in one database. It should make things more efficient
And don’t Godwinize the thread please, there’s no reason why having a national ID system automatically equals being forced to carry it. I see it simply to make things more uniform and easier. I would totally support it
Why would states stop issuing ID cards? Unless the states completely give up and attach things like drivers licenses to the national ID, the difference is between 51 and 50, not 1 and 50.
So what is your objection exactly? That a national ID card would be another card in addition to state driver’s licenses, credit cards, student ID’s, passports, etc? Wouldn’t the easy solution be to permit the national ID card to double as something else to eliminate at least 1 other state ID? Or make the national ID card optional, so that people don’t need it and can continue to use their existing ID’s? Its hard too much of a burden. Some people have multiple credit cards, one extra one that functions as a important ID is not burden enough to deem the idea unworkable
Well, you see- most dudes dont carry a ID. They carry a Driver’s license that acts as a ID. And, the traffic laws in Rhode Island are not the same as California.
If you want to carry a national ID, the State dept issues one. Valid across the USA, but not as a Operators license, of course.
If it’s optional and people wouldn’t need it because currently-existing ID would continue to exist, what’s the point? (And we already have passport cards anyways.)
The point would be that those of us who want such a card for the ease of identification can use it to benefit ourselves. We’re not forcing you to use it, but if I wanted to take advantage of the perks, I could.
How would it make it easier to identify yourself? What are the “perks”? Would it be necessarily easier to get than one of the already-existing options?
I have no idea what a Wisconsin driver’s license looks like, being from California. Nor do I see a lot of veterans, or students. It’d be much easier to fake one of those IDs than a national one, which would ideally have the same information throughout the country for ease of use. Plus, if states had laws where another states’ IDs couldn’t be used somewhere else, having a national ID card makes it easier for me because I don’t have to carry around multiple IDs in case I move or travel. It should be like a credit card almost, you can use it anywhere and it looks the same wherever you go and has the same info. You honestly can’t see the ease and efficiency that it would bring?
Sorry, I wasn’t aware that such a thing exists. What is it called so I can find out more information on it?
I think this point has been mentioned already, but let’s ask again:
What problem does having a national ID solve? I’m not seeing one.
BUT
My real objections are not so rational, perhaps.
Potential for abuse: there will of course be requirements to get such a card. In times of increasing paranoia on the part of elected officials, they will start making those requirements more strict. Then people with money will be able to sidestep some of those onerous restrictions (like having a security-line pass-through at airports). This contributes to the high-low stratification of society based on income. I hate that.
General hassle: consider how much you hate to go to the DMV. Now multiply that by all the federal bureaucracy that will grow up around this card, and the entrenched entitled federal workers who will take great joy on making your life miserable. “Mistakes” will be made that can make you a non-person (maybe this should go up in point one, Potential for Abuse).
As things are, if things get bad in this way in a state, even one as large as California, the government is not out of my reach to make my case or to change unfair or corrupt practices. With the federal government, not so much.
So, no thanks. Make a good case that it solves a real problem, and I will re-consider my opposition.
Roddy
If it was optional and other forms of ID continued to exist, nobody would know what a federal ID card looked like because nobody would waste their time and money getting one.
The only way to make a federal ID card (for people who won’t get a passport or passport card) worth anybody’s while is to forcibly abolish state ID cards and make them use the federal ID for all purposes (including drivers licenses).
But do any states actually have laws banning the use of other states’ IDs?
Nope. It sounds like a huge waste to me, at least if it exists without getting rid of other, better forms of ID. (My drivers license and passport actually do things other than just identify me, so IMO they’re objectively better and less of a waste of my time than such a card.)
My fishing license allows me to fish anyplace in my state. But if I want to catch snook, or lobster, or tarpon (for example) my license must carry an “endorsement” for that particular permission.
If there was a National ID Card, it could (hypothetically, of course) be endorsed with my state driver license, adding that particular permission to whatever else the National ID demonstrated. If my state decided to keep issuing cards, but accepted the National as an alternative, I could toss my DL in the drawer for special occasions. Or the state might decide to end issuance of little plastic pieces, and just provide a letter allowing the Fed to add an endorsement to my National card.
Heck, the National card could have an endorsement for my fishing license, and even another for my snook stamp. Concealed carry, state specific of course – another endorsement. Organ donor? Endorsement. Medical alert or even medical insurance policy identification, endorsement. Virtually anything presently needing a portable identification or permission could be added to a National card. All as options, if you wish. The prime issuers could still issue their own. And maybe I’d have to pay a fee for each added, and the issuance of a new piece of plastic. But if I wanted to leave all my other bits and pieces of identity and permission at home, I could presumably get most everything onto a single plastic ‘document’.