LEK
05-12-2008, 08:41 AM
By the end of last year, seven states had passed laws prohibiting implementation of REAL ID in their state: Maine, Montana, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Washington, New Hampshire, and Georgia. That number became eight on April 9 of this year when Idaho joined up. Ten states had laws that were passed in one house but not the other. Eight more states had introduced such laws. Twelve had passed nonbinding resolutions denouncing REAL ID. That’s a 38-state rebellion!
Governor Sanford’s letter concludes: “It is important that we … always remember that America’s greatest homeland security rests in liberty.”
I have no doubt that otherwise, DHS will ultimately be able to force compliance. It will get help from corporate America, especially the mass media and financial institutions. Here is how it will work: despite the defiance coming from both the grassroots and state governors, a majority of America’s masses still have not heard of REAL ID. The mindset here is that what isn’t on TV or doesn’t affect them directly, doesn’t exist or at least is somebody else’s problem. If a given state refuses to comply, its masses will feel blindsided when airport security no longer accepts their driver’s licenses or social security cards as valid for identification purposes. Corporate-owned big city newspapers will immediately publish a stream of lead op-eds bemoaning the situation with a “We told our Governor and state legislators to comply!” If banks stop opening accounts, or if jobseekers can’t produce the ID prospective employers suddenly want, the state will find itself with a major situation on its hands.
Here in South Carolina, where government schools stopped teaching about the Constitution long ago, a sizeable fraction of the public will stupidly turn its wrath on people like Governor Sanford, on the General Assembly, and on us “conspiracy nuts” instead of questioning the federal government’s increasing bids for unchecked power. What? Question the federal government? It’s the government, after all! DHS is going to keep us safe from all those big bad terrorists, right? All we have to do is give them more power!
http://www.newswithviews.com/Yates/steven36.htm
Governor Sanford’s letter concludes: “It is important that we … always remember that America’s greatest homeland security rests in liberty.”
I have no doubt that otherwise, DHS will ultimately be able to force compliance. It will get help from corporate America, especially the mass media and financial institutions. Here is how it will work: despite the defiance coming from both the grassroots and state governors, a majority of America’s masses still have not heard of REAL ID. The mindset here is that what isn’t on TV or doesn’t affect them directly, doesn’t exist or at least is somebody else’s problem. If a given state refuses to comply, its masses will feel blindsided when airport security no longer accepts their driver’s licenses or social security cards as valid for identification purposes. Corporate-owned big city newspapers will immediately publish a stream of lead op-eds bemoaning the situation with a “We told our Governor and state legislators to comply!” If banks stop opening accounts, or if jobseekers can’t produce the ID prospective employers suddenly want, the state will find itself with a major situation on its hands.
Here in South Carolina, where government schools stopped teaching about the Constitution long ago, a sizeable fraction of the public will stupidly turn its wrath on people like Governor Sanford, on the General Assembly, and on us “conspiracy nuts” instead of questioning the federal government’s increasing bids for unchecked power. What? Question the federal government? It’s the government, after all! DHS is going to keep us safe from all those big bad terrorists, right? All we have to do is give them more power!
http://www.newswithviews.com/Yates/steven36.htm