Orwell Would be Pleased Orwell would be pleased. The Sunday editorial in The Arizona Republic would also give Joe Stalin a warm feeling, and Idi Amin, too. Fidel Castro would light up a cigar with pride. Causescu smiles in Hell. Pol Pot nods his cruel head - the newspaper wants us all to carry a "national ID card". Congress, they say, should hang this yoke on the people of the United States. To suit the paper's liking, the stewards of our liberty (or bulwark against it, whichever we voters decide) would be responsible for concocting and maintaining a tracking device for our identities: "It should be standardized, employ high-tech security, be machine readable, linked to a national database and issued by the federal government." "The debate over whether the country needs secure identification cards," they decree, "is over. The question now is what form they will take." I guess I don't have the right to question any of this, because in their tiny minds the debate is over, but I'm curious about a few things. For instance, what sort of information will be on this ID card, other than my name, address, date of birth, Social Security number, photograph, thumb or fingerprint, height, weight, description and reference to ethnicity? What else, a strand of DNA, perhaps? Will this card tell someone - who? - whether or not I am a member of The Party? Might it be earmarked with a crucifix, crescent or Star of David? And why stop there, when we could be inserting microchips into the scalps of infants at birth? Sounds expensive... How much is this thing going to cost? Would it be cheaper if I let the government tattoo a number on my forearm? Anyway, how does one create a "secure" identification card in the digital age, when anything can be counterfeited? How many examples do we need to understand that the federal government is not particularly efficient at very much? Did once-convicted John Poindexter and his happy clowns at DARPA not already get laughed out of the room with their "Total Information Awareness" idea, their Mother of all Databases? Other queries come to mind, as more worms come crawling out of the can. Am I not hounded enough by the federal government as it is? I've been issued a Social Security card and have obtained a passport. Upon turning 18, I had to register with the Selective Service, in case they ever wanted to draft me. I'm a known quantity to the IRS. I've passed numerous federal background checks to purchase firearms, and surrendered copious amounts of personal information in the 2000 census. That's just the dirt the Feds have on me. The State of Arizona has issued me a driver's license. Maricopa County has me recorded as an official voter (Independent). Just about every city in the Valley of the Sun knows I'm a lousy driver, on account of all the tickets I've paid. Then there's my dossier on file with Corporate America. If anyone really wants to know what I'm up to, they could just dial up Experian or one of the other financial agencies to review my credit report. Those folks seem to be more than willing to share (or sell) that sort of information. Actually, people do this kind of snooping every day; it usually results in identity theft. One should wonder what sort of reasoning the paper might present in sloping toward totalitarianism. It all boils down to fear, as they wave the flag of 9/11 in our faces, using that dark day the same way Republicans do; it's the shortest route to getting what they want. They bring up the border issues as well, but never do they criticize the Party in charge, the one that nods and winks as big-money donors balance their piggy banks on the backs of illegal workers. Perhaps they're just too busy at the newspaper to do much reading anymore. If they ever become so inclined, they might start with one of the more important documents in our history, the Bill of Rights. The Amendment that comes to mind is admittedly a ways down the list, so hopefully their strained attention spans won't peter out before reaching the Fourth. I've posted it here many times before, but I always make room for simple language: "The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized" (emphases mine). Note that it doesn't say "the government's right to be secure..." Maybe these editors feel the same way about the Constitution as do most teenagers and the Bush administration - that it's quaint and obsolete, like the Geneva Convention and the United Nations. Otherwise, why would they be stumping for Big Brother? With its willful spit dripping from the faces of all Americans, The Arizona Republic has abdicated its responsibilities as a member of the Fourth Estate. It is no longer keeping an eye on the government, standing guard against assaults on our freedom. In fact, it is doing the exact opposite. Paul Heller 04/11/05 << back to the archives
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