REAL ID?

Without the tragedy caused by an illegally present person driving a school bus in a manner that caused the deaths of children, the local scene in Massachusetts will not go undone. http://www.boston.com/news/local/articles/2008/03/01/a_suspect_by_many_other_names_waits_in_jail/

At a time of national peril several states have refused to comply with the REAL ID process; it must be chic. With avowed enemies trying to cross our borders for the purpose of murder there are still those who elect blindness to the threat and, feel that you'd be better off if you were free of the anxiety of being threatened; one big bang you won't even hear. Having discovered that the fraudulent identity game is high sport, there seems to be an effort to raise it to Olympian stupidity.

For more than a few years of hearing cases dealing with motor vehicle laws in Massachusetts, the issue of bogus drivers’ licenses and proper identification for other validations would come across my appeal board. Getting a fake “ID” has always been a form of mischief in parochial parts; working class streets and academic avenues, routes that the under-age have carried these cards to get a beer or at least admittance to a bar. Many came before this writer, their egos rinsed of the success they experienced just seconds before they were caught.
At best, the law and its sanctions stood. If they wanted to be known as 21 years of age (and they were not, as of the time of the hearing) then the license they could have enjoyed from the age of sixteen and a half years would just have to wait until the 21st year they claimed.
Of course, one could not help but try to convey a little regard for the law. Sure, “It’s the law! That’s it” would suffice. I would forego that. I would cite the mischief that I recognized. I would try to equate it to their credit cards and the age of rampant identity theft. One day, as I noticed one of America’s future water-walkers, supported by the perfect couple parents, exhibiting all the signs of boredom; counting ceiling dots, inventorying fingers, I suggested that this appellant might have friends who had jobs in restaurants, inns or pubs. The reaction that I hoped for suddenly happened. I suggested that it might be wise to consider what a bogus ID carrier, after being served, could cost his friend, the employer of his friend and a number of other people as well. And appealing to responsibility, awakening it, for friends, colleagues and fellow travelers could be a solution for fellow citizens and our government as well.

Each time a concession is granted the order to which the citizenry is entitled becomes compromised. Each state contending the REAL ID shows contempt for its citizens.
Just stepping back to the experience I cited above were offenses committed by the state itself.
In the 80’s the Dukakis Administration issued bogus social security numbers for a couple of groups of immigrants to facilitate their obtaining pay-outs. Were they for the purpose of employment there existed a mechanism. But that wasn’t the case. This was pure state-sponsored welfare fraud.
Underneath this was the fiscal and political advantage that the Governor gained at the time - more employment slots for case workers were sponsored (think payrolls, state employee union endorsements, [try to lay off a state employee]). This became a major debacle after a while when some of the recipients of largesse faced scrutiny in legal affairs; insurance and commercial licenses. The state was complicit in material misrepresentation. Not only was Massachusetts culpable for this as there were similar practices in other states as well. Florida, North Carolina and Texas to name but a few were more egregious in their failure of due diligence in issuing false identity papers. Some even had networks of blind-eyed officials who, together with a cadre of bottom-feeders were issuing licenses for exorbitant fees. (By the way, I don’t consider those that paid them were victims.)

Now, let's consider something else. Who do you want to be, and why do you want to be someone else? How about when you want your one vote counted. Massachusetts has a motor-voter registration system. But the very people who ramped up that idea seem to think it's an indignity to have to show the very ID issued by that process when one votes.

So, we have in place now means by which we can be responsible and accountable. Simple, isn't it.

Yet we find free-way wide gaps through which terrorists and other crimnnal elements can pass toll-free.

Above, I cited a person with multiple identities with a Massachusetts driver's license in two of them and a violation of NY parole in another. A passport application based upon one of these certificates is lost in the US State Department legal ether, as well. (Well, aren't you glad he's not driving a school bus - or is he.)

Aren't you glad he's not Adnan El Shukrijumah who is on a BOLO (Be on the lookout for) as a person of interest for 9/11. Adnan had a couple of driver's licenses also. He entered the US on fraudulent documents. Cited in South America, Colorado and Toronto there seems to be some problem with identifying him accurately - (Huh?) - and no warrant has been sworn.

I bet you're glad he isn't driving a school bus, let alone on a surrender warrant in New York or dealing drugs in Lynn, Massachusetts, Edina Minnesota or Sunnyside Street, Wherever.

Accordingly, thanks to motor-voter-registration (as in Massachusetts) should he show up, he could even exercise his right to vote (more than once) as the thug I first cited may.