PDA

View Full Version : SC Govenor Mark Sanford on the Real ID




rancher89
04-18-2008, 08:23 AM
Article published Apr 14, 2008
REAL ID side effects


April 14, 2008

By Mark Sanford - If I were a betting man, I would wager most people haven't followed the debate on REAL ID. If you indeed missed it, I would ask you take the time to learn about what I consider the most troubling piece of legislation I've seen come from Washington since I have been governor.

REAL ID would surreptitiously require all 50 states to change their driver's licenses to act as de-facto national ID cards. It's outrageous, and not just because it was a backdoor way of doing something proponents in Washington have never been able to pull off in the past. I say "outrageous" because REAL ID was never really debated in Congress; because the cost of its implementation is handed down to states and individuals; and because it is an affront to Americans' privacy concerns.

Let's look more closely at a few of those concerns:

(1) Steroid use in baseball has now received more congressional attention than has REAL ID. But national policy changes should be debated, not dictated. This was not the case with REAL ID. It never saw committee debate in the House or Senate, and passed as nothing more than a rider, an attachment, to a bill devoted to tsunami relief and military personnel fighting in the Middle East.

(2) The cost of REAL ID, and the national ID card system that would come with it, would not be borne by the federal government but handed to the states and individuals. So-called unfunded mandates like these keep the spending trains going in Washington. I find it amazing now that Washington has stacked up $50 trillion in debts, which amount to $450,000 per household, that their idea of keeping those promises rests on handing the bill to others.

Nobody seems to know how many billions REAL ID will cost taxpayers at the state level. Implausibly, the Department of Homeland Security has now revised its cost estimate downward from $23 billion to $9.9 billion. But whatever the number it seems to me that if Washington wants something done, it ought to find a way to pay for it ? and make sure that it can pay for it.

(3) This proposal is one more step away from the Founding Fathers' vision of a limited federal government. Our greatest homeland security is liberty, and the Founding Fathers believed our greatest threat to liberty was a central government grown too powerful. Accordingly, they set up checks on federal power by vesting authority at the individual and state levels.

REAL ID disrupts this delicate balance of power in two ways. First, it turns the Founders' logic on its head by forcing states to act as agents for the federal government in creating a national ID card for federal purposes. Needing a REAL ID to board a plane or enter a federal building would also change the balance of power in something as seemingly insignificant as a visit to a member of Congress.

As a former member of Congress, I had countless meetings with constituents whose personal details I knew nothing about. Their background was not the issue; my stand on a given matter was. The First Amendment guarantees Americans the right to assemble and petition their government, with no qualification that says, "Only if you have a REAL ID card." On this, I think it would be best to let the Founding Fathers' original work stand.

(4) REAL ID will move DMV lines in our state up from 15 minutes to up to two hours, and those productive hours will not be regained in this lifetime. I suspect a similar phenomenon in DMVs across the nation.

(5) REAL ID falsely assumes our personal information will be safer in one spot in Washington rather than housed independently across 50 separate states. In the last couple of years, Washington has exposed the personal information of as many as 40 million Americans ? not to mention the three presidential candidates ? to potential theft.

To err really is human, but if you accept the reality that mistakes do happen and that bad people do hack into spots they aren't supposed to access ? does it really make sense to put all this information into a central database?

(6) Finally, a host of loopholes would in many ways render this bill an inconvenience and cost to Americans ? not the bad guys it is intended for. These range from REAL ID having no impact in travelers with a foreign passports to the recent affirmation by the federal government that no form of ID is needed to board a plane.

In short, there are many faults in this bill that could be sorted were there debate in Washington on REAL ID. I hope you'll join me in making your voice heard for truly debating this issue, and for pushing for change that would come with that debate.

Mark Sanford, a Republican, is governor of South Carolina.

princessredtights
04-18-2008, 08:29 AM
That's a great article - do you have the weblink for reference?

Thanks

rancher89
04-18-2008, 08:31 AM
I'll try to round it up, it came to me w/o a link and i usually check it out b4 I post, but this is so like him.....

rancher89
04-18-2008, 08:38 AM
here's his website-news releases page, nothing there, it was released on the 14th, but is not on his page, I'll keep digging
http://www.scgovernor.com/news/releases/


down in this article is a bit about his position recently
http://shamanwind.blogspot.com/2008/04/bottom-up-in-action.html

princessredtights
04-18-2008, 08:55 AM
Thanks - I think it's a brilliant response he has crafted and would like to pass it along on (I always like the link whenever possible)


Don't trouble yourself on trying to find the link :) I appreciate you posting the article!


I just sent him an email to say thanks for standing up against the Real ID -



http://www.scgovernor.com/contact/email/

Good Morning:

I am not a resident of your beautiful state but I wanted to say "Thank You" for standing up to the DHS in regards to the Real ID Act.


It gives me such encouragement to see a Governor stand up for the Constitution!


Best Regards

rancher89
04-18-2008, 09:00 AM
Thanks - I think it's a brilliant response he has crafted and would like to pass it along on (I always like the link whenever possible)


Don't trouble yourself on trying to find the link :) I appreciate you posting the article!


I just sent him an email to say thanks for standing up against the Real ID -



http://www.scgovernor.com/contact/email/

Good Morning:

I am not a resident of your beautiful state but I wanted to say "Thank You" for standing up to the DHS in regards to the Real ID Act.


It gives me such encouragement to see a Governor stand up for the Constitution!


Best Regards

Well, thank you! You are right, even if he didn't write it, it is a good and well thought out response to the real ID act. With no tin foil hat stuff at all!!LOLOLOL

And I think it's great you wrote him--please post the reply you get and maybe we'll clear up whether or not it's a real article.......

mtmedlin
04-18-2008, 09:39 AM
More great stuff from Sanford. After reading that, does anybody question why Sanford was Ron Pauls 1st choice for VP?

LEK
04-18-2008, 11:56 AM
Good Morning:

I am not a resident of your beautiful state but I wanted to say "Thank You" for standing up to the DHS in regards to the Real ID Act.


It gives me such encouragement to see a Governor stand up for the Constitution!


Best Regards

Thanks for complimenting the State...:)
It is beautiful even if a little backward. I can say that - I've lived here for 20 years.

rancher89
04-18-2008, 12:59 PM
Link to Washington Times article

http://www.washingtontimes.com/article/20080414/COMMENTARY/303687521/1012

link to his letter to Chertoff

http://www.scgovernor.com/NR/rdonlyres/8EA29AE1-B84F-443E-B54A-3626FE5DEF57/0/Letterf033108RealIDletterDHS.PDF


Thank you penners for the links!!

Cowlesy
06-03-2008, 05:19 PM
I wrote a note to Mark Sanford in support of his stance on the REAL ID.

Here is his reply:


Hi Ryan,

Thanks so much for your kind note.

I'm glad that we agree on Real ID as it brings with it amazing costs with regard to the nature of debate and the passage of laws from Congress, based on its implications for everyone of our checkbooks and most of all based on privacy and civil liberty concerns that I think, in this case, are very troublesome. I'm pleased you took the time to read the note that I sent to Secretary Chertoff and hope you found it interesting (particularly after the first page and a half that walks through some of the security measures incorporated into our driver's licenses).

Again, thanks for sharing your concerns as you did and I hope this summer season treats you well. Until then take good care.

Mark

Penners
06-03-2008, 07:45 PM
Oh Lord! I heard today that Mark Sanford was being considered for McCrap's Veep. I REALLY like Mark Sanford and if he is on the ticket I would have to support it.... that is the ONLY way that McCain will get a vote from this ole lady. I realize in saying this that he would never offer the VP slot to Dr. Paul.

RSLudlum
06-03-2008, 07:53 PM
Oh Lord! I heard today that Mark Sanford was being considered for McCrap's Veep. I REALLY like Mark Sanford and if he is on the ticket I would have to support it.... that is the ONLY way that McCain will get a vote from this ole lady. I realize in saying this that he would never offer the VP slot to Dr. Paul.

I don't know if Sanford would even accept the offer, he is a hard-nosed fiscal conservative and would have to give up the reputation he's built over the years..

But with what Cheney has done with the VP position, pretty much setting a precedent of power for future VP's, Sanford could have a major effect on the size of gov't.