Beginning January 1, 2010 many legal law biding citizens in the United States of America will be treated as foreigners if/when they travel via commercial airline, or wish to enter a Federal building. How is his happening and why? Quite simply, because they happen to reside in one of the 36 States that have either refused to implement the REALID or have not yet complied. Citizens of these States will no longer be allowed to pass the TSA check point using their State issued Driver’s License but will instead be required to show a valid U.S. Passport, even for domestic air travel.
After failing as a stand alone bill. REAL ID was passed in 2005 as an amendment to a military spending bill, that Congressional leadership knew would pass with little objection. If REAL ID were to actually be implemented in all 50 States, it would essentially be a national ID. It mandates uniformity among all 50 States regarding issuance of a Driver’s License, which isn’t necessarily an “evil” objective. However, that’s not all. REAL ID also creates a National database of personal information that can be accessed by any Police Department, Law Enforcement Officer and/or Fusion Center anywhere the barcode on the Driver’s License can be scanned. This database of personal information would be controlled by the very people with access, so you will have no say as to what information they keep. This could include not only your driving and/or criminal record, but could potentially include unrelated information such as your medical records, library records and any other host of information that some bureaucrat deems “necessary”. Voting history perhaps? How about party affiliation? If this isn’t stopped before being implemented, not only will millions of American citizens be treated as “foreigners” in this regard, but it only takes two more steps to become Germany’s Third Reich, “Where are your papers? Your papers, please!”
We must act now to stop this from being implemented. Some have suggested the PASS Act, however, a Restore the Republic Action Alert warns, “The PASS Act does not repeal the Real ID Act. It does repeal provisions of the Real ID Act; those provisions that are included in Title II of the Real ID Act 2005. The Real ID Act is still intact and is federal law.” And, “The PASS Act contains many of the most egregious aspects of the Real ID Act; including the requirement for a digital facial image/photograph that will be mandated to be internationally facial recognition compatible.“