Today is the 6th Anniversary of the passage of the draconian, unnecessary REAL ID Act.
This makes “Repeal the REAL ID Act” DownsizeDC.org’s oldest active campaign. Several reasons for repeal are laid out in our March 28 Dispatch.
Thanks to you, it has been a successful campaign so far, but it’s not yet a victory . . .
* REAL ID still hasn’t been fully implemented, and is opposed by dozens of states and organizations . . .
* The Department of Homeland Security keeps extending the deadline for states to implement REAL ID . . .
* But final victory will come only when the Act must is completely repealed
Please tell Congress to repeal the REAL ID ACT.
You may borrow from or copy this letter . . .
The REAL ID Act is six years old today. Congress was wrong to ever pass it. The passage itself made a mockery of representative government. REAL ID was attached to an unrelated war-spending bill, and the Senate never even held hearings or debated it.
I have several cost and privacy-protection concerns about REAL ID. But the underlying Constitutional problems should concern Americans of all parties and ideologies. When implemented, REAL ID will . . .
* Force innocent Americans to provide additional documentation to “prove” they are who they say they are in order to get a driver license or other state ID card — even if they have been issued one in the past
* Force states to conform to national standards in their ID cards
* Put my personal information in a federal database
* And prevent Americans from boarding planes if they don’t carry this standardized cardThese federal requirements violate the 9th and 10th Amendments . . .
* By imposing virtual federal “permission” to get a driver license or board a plane, REAL ID violates the basic Constitutional right of freedom of movement from state to state
* By imposing requirements on the states, REAL ID treats them like administrative districts in an empire, when they are SUPPOSED to be free, sovereign statesMoreover, it will do NOTHING to stop illegal immigration or a terrorist attack. Whether you consider yourself a civil libertarian, a small-government conservative, or both, REAL ID violates your principles and traditional American values.
Innocent Americans, NOT terrorists or illegal immigrants, will be punished by REAL ID. Repeal it!
END LETTER
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Jim Babka
President
DownsizeDC.org, Inc.