Grounding 91 million citizens
 

A new article from Techdirt, Who Needs A No-Fly List When You Can Just Ground 91 Million Citizens? talks about citizens of those states not complying with the REAL ID act ending up not being able to fly using their driver's license.

Good. If the TSA gets too buried in no-ID flyers something is going to have to give.

DHS/TSA will surrender yet again, after putting up its show of farce. The US House Members and US Senators representing 91 million people can easily make chopped liver of DHS/TSA and DHS/TSA won't dare to risk angering so many people all at once.

This is just one of many steps to having a national ID that is required to freely move about your own country.

And a requirement to have ID to move about is but another license for the government to deny an individual via administrative means even absent criminal prosecution leading to a conviction of the individual wanting to move about.

ID to move about your own country? Sounds just just what a tinpot dictatorship's Dear Leader would love.

Yes, yes and yes. I want my country back!

No one would be grounded, you just couldn't use your drivers licence... no big deal. Use your passport, done. It's a bunch of noise over a non-issue.

Stupid? Sure is. But the headline is ridiculous.

Not everyone has a passport, nor is everyone going to know their DL no longer qualifies.

"Use your passport" is not a solution.

Most people with a US driving license have a currently valid passport? No.

About 2/5 of the U.S. population has a passport. How many of those are minors who don't need ID to board a plane? A few million?

In #1: https://www.techdirt.com/articles/20...citizens.shtml article OMITS NYS; when I renewed my DL, it gave me the option of a "real ID" renewal--but didn't REQUIRE me to do so. NYS (and I assume other states), would like drivers to do "everything" on-line (or by snail-mail) = NOT visiting a motor vehicle office. [Drivers licenses in NYS now run for 8 years--so after 3 renewals (they keep the picture the same) = 24 years, you would NOT look like you did today:)...but it makes renewing easy [even the eye exam can be done with an optometrist, you just list his/her license number when you renew on line].
PS: I just checked NYS DMV website, after Oct. 2015 all licenses will be the "new" (secure) licenses, but NOW no one is required to "upgrade" their licenses before expiration. Since officially, NYS did not opt out, will current NYS DLs be accepted at airports (assuming DHS doesn't give an extension)?

Well, they are not going to be grounded, they just need to apply for a passport (which costs money, yes, and isn't straightforward for everybody particularly if unpaid taxes are going to lead to passport denial).

I do agree that a passport should not be necessary to move about within your own country, so it is an erosion of liberty, but hardly grounding.

ID is not required to fly domestically. Perhaps the better choice is to make TSA honor court decisions that have already been handed down.

Deny the ability to actually do something? Sure. But deny the ability to want to do something? Nope.

At the risk of straying into Omni-land:

I am firmly in opposition to this idea of a government required document to simply access the services/functions of government for which one has paid through taxes.

Although, perversely, one Helleristic result of such a regime could be that if one does not have a "real" ID so that one is not allowed entry to government buildings then that person is not eligible to be put in a government detention center or court building. :) Certainly unlikely, I know, as a carve-out would undoubtedly be made such that only certain services and functions would be denied to those that do not have the required government provided document and those denied services would not include the capricious and heavy handed parts of the justice system.

Strangely, there are many countries in the world not held to be bastions of civil liberties as is the USA that do have national identity cards which are required for fundamental services and yet they do not seem to have the problems we are rightly concerned about here.

An example: in the US there is much angst over some states requiring photo ID to cast a vote. But in Mexico, one must not only simply present a specific government supplied photo identification card to vote but that card is compared to both the person presenting the card AND to a book of photos kept by the registrar of all voters registered at the particular polling place. Poll watchers from the various political parties are supplied with identical copies of the registrar's list - thereby making the probability of "imposter" voting almost negligible. No one seems to have any problems with this system. Additional security procedures (punching of the card and indelible inking of fingers) prevent other forms voter fraud. Amazing that a country not typically thought of as "progressive" is so far out ahead of one that is.

The US federal government can still lock up and prosecute individuals without recognized government-issued ID issued in compliance with the REAL ID provisions.

Imposter voting is still possible in Mexico.