Papers Please

Yesterday, I asked, by way of a quote on the decline of society, if we are truly asking the right questions. I promised to follow up today and was rewarded with just the right set of stories.

First, from here in Virginia, yesterday: Va. House Approves Bill On Illegal Immigration Aim Is to Block Access To State, Local Funds By Tim Craig Washington Post Staff Writer Wednesday, January 31, 2007; Page A01 RICHMOND, Jan. 30 The Virginia House of Delegates approved a far-reaching proposal Tuesday to strip charities and other organizations of state and local funding if any of the money is used to provide services to immigrants in the country illegally. (Washington Post)

What scared me about this was I felt the cold winds of more civil liberties being stripped away from me. Bare with me and I will explain in a moment.

Secondly, from Government Computer News today: Davis to DHS: Fast-track Real ID By Alice Lipowicz, Contributing Writer As Maine and other states dig in their heels against the Real ID Act of 2005, Rep. Tom Davis, R-Va., called on the Homeland Security Department to move forward quickly to show how the program should be implemented. (Government Computer News)

Thirdly, from Glenn Greenwald's book, How Would A Patriot Act? It is not hyperbole to observe that we are moving away from the founding principles of our constitutional republic towards the theories of powers that the founders identified as the hallmarks of tyranny.

In the movie the Hunt for Red October, two of the characters are talking. One wants to settle in Montana and drive an RV around the country. He ask the Captain "They will let you do that? No papers?" And the Captain responds "No papers," and then qualifies it with "state to state."

The cold wind was replaced with a blast of arctic air that could have originated in Red Square in the mid-1970s at the high of Soviet Russia. Or further back in Nazi Germany. After reading about the Va. bill, I had to ask myself if Delegate Miller truly understands what it is he is attempting to do and I am still not convinced that he really does know what he is doing, but it is not what you might think.

There has been a push for a National ID card for several years in the United States. It is generally squashed for a variety of practical and patriotic reasons despite the fact that a national ID card is already available. The difference between the current one and the envisaged on is that the current national ID card is completely optional and generally only used by people who travel outside the country. It is called a passport. Now, with Real ID, comes the push for a National ID card that would be mandatory for all citizens and could conceivably be used to control access to goods and services provided by the federal, state or local government or service agencies.

What is truly scary about all this is that it does fly in the face of all the precepts set down by the founding fathers about what the United States was supposed to be about. Now, instead of a nice easy commute, you may be asked to show your papers to get gasoline or to meet and discuss the issues of the day in a civic place. The key here is that the push is coming from two directions under guises of sensible measures taken for security or to ensure the money is going where it is intended to. Under the current Virginia legislation, if passed, it would require that all persons asking for assistance, whether from the Salvation Army, or their local hospital to prove that they are in the country legally.

After all, if I was running one of these organizations, I would not want to take the risk of handing out services to Alex Brown, who happens to be an illegal alien from Australia. Of course, I sure would not like to have to face the law suit from Juan Gonzales, who does out reach in South America, who was born and has a house in Independent Hill, either.

And as I have said, numerous times before, most Americans do not have the documented proof that should satisfy the requirements to prove they are in the country legally. And in this case, I do mean the citizens.