Real ID had problems unrelated to civil liberties. It demanded compliance from the states on a series of hard, nonnegotiable deadlines, the first one coming in May 2008, when citizens of states with below-compliance IDs would run into problems when they boarded planes or crossed state lines. It mandated a national database of biometric information, a technical undertaking for which no federal agency was ready. There was never any serious estimate of how much money states would have to spend to bring their driver's licenses into compliance, and no federal money was allocated for the purpose. States would have to dig into their own funds to radically reform their own ID systems.
Two days after Bush signed the law, the National Governors Association, which had long been lobbying for a national ID card, came out against it. "Several of the requirements included in the Emergency Supplemental," it complained in a statement, "particularly those having to do with verification of documents used to acquire an ID, are either technologically or fiscally prohibitive." The National Conference of State Legislators weighed in against the law too. So the two largest associations of politicians who would have to implement Real ID had hardened into dedicated opponents.
Sensenbrenner, the DHS, and their allies in the tech industry still seemed to have the upper hand. The tone of the press coverage, like the mood among state legislators, was resigned. "Like it or Not, National IDs Are Coming," read a typical headline in the Austin-American Statesman. A Connecticut woman named Mary Long wrote to USA Today in favor of the idea, saying, "I certainly don't mind standing in line longer or providing multiple documents to obtain my driver's license in the interest of a more secure country."
But the new system required more than slightly longer lines. Congress had not appropriated the money needed to initiate the transition from many divergent state IDs to one national standard, a change requiring the root-and-branch transformation of thousands of motor vehicle departments. "The government had no idea what it was getting into," says Quam. "They thought this would cost $100 million, total, and they didn't even give confidence that the money would be coming soon."
Live Free or Die
At the beginning of 2006, the Department of Homeland Security offered New Hampshire and Tennessee $3 million each for a test of Real ID. New Hampshire was exactly the wrong place to begin. The Live Free or Die state, home to the libertarian Free State Project, was rife with anti-Real ID activists. The Granite State ID Coalition, a grab bag of groups ranging from the state Libertarian Party to the liberal Democracy for New Hampshire (founded by the remnants of Howard Dean's presidential campaign), had launched a word-of-mouth effort against the law. Among the gaggle of local libertarian-leaning politicians, it seemed likely that one would arise to carry the anti-Real ID standard.
In March, Rep. Neal Kurk (R-Weare), already a Real ID skeptic, was strolling between the State Capitol in Concord and his office when he ran into a fellow Republican, Rep. Richard Marple of Hookset. "He was an oddball," Kurk remembers, "but I overheard him talking about the Real ID Act and asked what he was working on." Marple showed Kurk his draft of an anti-Real ID bill, a rambling document that listed all of Marple's constitutional objections to the law. "I explained to him that this would never pass," Kurk says, "and that if he wanted it to, I should rewrite it."
Kurk composed a bill opting the state out of Real ID and turning down the $3 million grant—"the bribe," he called it. In committee, his proposal failed by a vote of 12 to 1. On April 14, when the bill was scheduled to be read in the House (despite the vote), Kurk took to the floor to make his pitch.
Yes, he acknowledged, if the Real ID deadline passed without New Hampshire's compliance, the federal government might make good on its threat to bar residents from traveling on airplanes using their driver's licenses for identification. Yes, the state would be turning down a sizable pile of money. "I don't believe that the people of New Hampshire elected us to help the federal government create a national identification card," he said. "We care more for our liberties than to meekly hand over to the federal government the potential to enumerate, track, identify, and eventually control us."
The speech was effective. On May 3, 2006, the New Hampshire legislature passed HB 1582, a bill creating "a commission to study" Real ID and prohibiting compliance until the study was completed. "That $3 million bribe was tempting," says state Sen. Peter Burling (D-Cornish), who sponsored the Senate version of the bill. Later that month, Kurk and his allies got a hallelujah from U.S. Sen. John Sununu (R-N.H.). "The REAL ID Act replaced sound policy with bad policy," Sununu wrote in a column for the conservative Manchester Union Leader.
Kurk's success emboldened the nation's Real ID opponents, who had been nervous about responding to federal threats with constitutional arguments. "I'd point to that speech as the turning point," says Jim Harper, the director of information policy studies at the libertarian Cato Institute, and a key player in barnstorming against the law. "It was a good speech," Kurk says today. "I freely admit that. But don't give me all the credit!"
Noam Biale, a lawyer who helped launch the ACLU's anti-Real ID project in late 2005, says the measure had "two Achilles' heels." The first was the cost on the federal level. "The second," Biale says, "was state implementation, which gets thorny for a number of reasons, and the civil liberties issue was the big one." In its search for allies, the mostly liberal ACLU often found that activists on the right had started the work already.
The Revolt Spreads
Before Neal Kurk's rebellion began—even before Real ID became a law—a more marginalized segment of the coalition was emerging. Endtime magazine, a 35,000-circulation, Dallas-based periodical published by the eschatological Endtime Ministries, had been churning out cautionary articles about computer ID chips for years. When Real ID passed, Endtime clicked into high gear. "The Real ID card," says Endtime Managing Editor Craig Treadwell, "plays right into the hands of the Beast."
According to Treadwell's apocalyptic theology, during the end days a "mark of the beast" will be forced onto mankind. Millions of Christians avidly believe in this; fear of the mark has girded opposition to UPC symbols, to health ID cards, and to any proposal for a global or national ID card. In mid-2006, Endtime printed a special issue that went well beyond its subscription base. Copies, Treadwell says, were mailed to every member of Congress and every state legislator in the nation. In Oklahoma one copy went to state Sen. Randy Brogdon (R-Owasso), who soon found some secular reasons to oppose Real ID.
Editor's Note: We invite comments and request that they be civil and on-topic. We do not moderate or assume any responsibility for comments, which are owned by the readers who post them. Comments do not represent the views of Reason.com or Reason Foundation. We reserve the right to delete any comment for any reason at any time.
The Wine Commonsewer|10.6.08 @ 12:07PM|#
I am delighted with this but as a cynic I have to point out that the state Driver License already functions as a national id card as does your social security number (to a lesser extent).
Certainly it's nice to see Governor Janet stand up on her hind legs and say NO, but it's a little late.
As an aside, Governor Janet is also pretty adamant about instituting Pre-K at taxpayer expense.
By the time those kids are grown retina scans will be as common as measles vaccinations.
|10.6.08 @ 12:18PM|#
It's a small victory, but dammit, we lovers of freedom and skeptics of ther feds need some few small wins.
It's worth a toast.
dave w.|10.6.08 @ 12:29PM|#
wtc7 was demolished by explosives.
|10.6.08 @ 12:33PM|#
can we get another Palin thread soon? i'm jonesin' real bad here.
|10.6.08 @ 12:57PM|#
Everytime I see anything about Real ID, I flash back to scenes at train stations in the old WWII movies.
A weasel in black leathers and jackboot, hand outstretched, penetrating dour stare, saying "Peperzzzzzzz?"
Mister DNA|10.6.08 @ 1:09PM|#
In addition to the financial incentives, the Federal gov't also failed to give REAL ID a cool name like, "The Super Freedom I Love America Fan Club Card".
|10.6.08 @ 1:13PM|#
I think if the Real ID card also replaced your ATM, credit, grocery store, gym, work ID, etc. it would have gone over better. Or maybe all that should be a chip under your arm so that you can't loose it.
|10.6.08 @ 1:14PM|#
DAMN YOU, EXTRA "O"!
Texpat|10.6.08 @ 1:28PM|#
David,
Dreier does not represent Orange County.
|10.6.08 @ 1:32PM|#
Real thorough and interesting article. Thanks.
-Anonymous
I am Spartacus|10.6.08 @ 1:42PM|#
It is only a matter of time, bigger sticks, or juicier carrots before some form of REAL ID passes.
If it only takes $150 billion in bribes to pass the bailout...
666|10.6.08 @ 1:59PM|#
REAL ID = MARK OF THE BEAST
OBAMA = the antiCHRIST ???
Naga Sadow|10.6.08 @ 2:20PM|#
I'm a bartender and I constantly check id's. Security here, however, has a cool little gadjet that runs your id. They don't even match the pictures up with the person in front of them.
|10.6.08 @ 2:22PM|#
The only ideology that defeated the Real ID act, if it's really defeated at all, was if the feds mandate it, they should pay for it. If the feds decided to pay for it, most states would drop their opposition.
|10.6.08 @ 3:32PM|#
Yup.
the innominate one|10.6.08 @ 5:04PM|#
good article, David.
bottom line: bipartisanship good, just this once?
|10.6.08 @ 6:57PM|#
"wtc7 was demolished by explosives."
Not unless someone invented silent explosives, sunshine.
-jcr
Ben1|10.6.08 @ 7:01PM|#
Your SSN has been your "real id" for years now. You can't bank without it; you can't get a job above menial work without it; you can't get credit without it; you can't get insurance without it... this door was closed long ago.
Can you say "Here's my ID" to the nice man in the jackboots? Of course you can. You've been doing so for years.
And if you don't, you're going to jail. Right now. And if you elect to remain silent, they'll elect to "simulate drowning" until you say what they want. Or they'll taser you. Or they'll plant drugs on you, or your kids.
This is not the government the constitution mandates. It is exercising power far beyond any authority ever granted it.
Happy discussion of real id doesn't change a thing; you're a fully enslaved subject of the royal 545 and there isn't a darned thing you can do about it.
|10.6.08 @ 7:10PM|#
Your SSN has been your "real id" for years now. You can't bank without it; you can't get a job above menial work without it; you can't get credit without it; you can't get insurance without it... this door was closed long ago.
Yep, that is true. People do not exist without the SSN. As a matter of fact, the SSN would not be useful at all (except for the government) if there were no legal tender laws. It has been the Marxian 5th point (central banking) that placed the final nail on your freedom's coffin.
|10.6.08 @ 7:52PM|#
Naga Sadow's point seems to be ignored. I live in MA, I have a barcode on my license, it is real ID ...lots of other states have this as well....Real ID is here!
"no slave is so dominated as the slave who thinks he is free."
|10.6.08 @ 10:38PM|#
Anyone surprised that stealing a trillion dollars from the middle class didn't save the economy?
Now they have "unreviewable authority", think they aren't going to use it to steal more from us?
|10.6.08 @ 11:20PM|#
It seems a better ID system will not happen until another crisis occurs.
So far the fight against terrorism, illegal immigration, identity theft, and voter fraud have been unable to push this nation to fully adopt the Real ID.
What will tip the nation into accepting it?
What if one day a nominee for President was thought to actually not be naturally born, and could not offer proof that he was?
It seems plausible that a majority of people would not want that to happen and support a better ID.
|10.7.08 @ 1:03AM|#
Is Real ID really dead? Really? From where I sit, it just looks like a pause in the action.
Was the bailout dead when the House (constitutionally required to originate all money bills) defeated it? Hardly.
Only some seismic shifts in the direction of liberty have the potential of saving us from dropping all the way to the bottom of the slippery slope. The only message powerful enough to arrest the slide, not to mention reverse it, is to kick out all the incumbents, especially or at least those who voted yes on the bailout. An even more important message would be sent if their replacements were not their opponents in the other big party, but rather third-party or independent candidates, everywhere credible alternative candidates are running.
|10.7.08 @ 2:56AM|#
This article is weird, I assume David is against real ID, but It immediately poisons the argument of those against real ID by saying right of the bat, "You know how is against Real ID, CRAZY 9/11 TRUTHERS"
It would be like a pro-McCain writer staring an article of by saying "You know who else will vote for McCain, WHITE SUPREMISISTS"
|10.7.08 @ 1:10PM|#
"""I'm a bartender and I constantly check id's. Security here, however, has a cool little gadjet that runs your id. They don't even match the pictures up with the person in front of them.""""
How do they match the person to the ID if they don't look at the photo?
|10.7.08 @ 1:11PM|#
Or is that your point?
Sheila Dean|10.7.08 @ 2:57PM|#
I kind of feel like the article is a premature memorial to an act that isn't dead yet. This act is still rooted at the federal level. Unless we repeal it the more dangerous and damaging ciphers will start to crop up. In Texas there are initiatives for drivers license checkpoints where ID's will be randomly required from anyone who is driving. Does this sound like East Berlin, Nazi Germany or Stalinist Russia to you? This fight is far from over. The fate of our foe has yet to feel much more than some snap back over states rights {THANK GOD!}. Please use your second win and your gloating to take on the REAL man in this fight -FEMA/DHS & your CEO in Chief.
|10.7.08 @ 3:31PM|#
Sadly, no one will give a shit until they start throwing us into ovens.
|10.8.08 @ 7:00AM|#
I think that it actually makes a lot of sense to have a national ID card. It shouldn't be in the form of a driver's license though.
Myrisa|10.8.08 @ 9:38PM|#
Unfortunately, the only place where the DHS Real-ID program is being implemented is in Puerto Rico, a US territory in which, ironically, the governor (D), who has been indicted with 24 counts of federal crimes and claims persecution for political reasons, hailed the application of the Real-ID scheme at the local government's expense.
|10.9.08 @ 2:40PM|#
It smells like... Victory.
Mark Lerner|10.9.08 @ 5:18PM|#
My name is Mark Lerner. I am the Co-Founder of the Stop Real ID Act Coalition which is comprised of many people including lawmakers. We are non partisan. We take exception to the article because it provides too many inaccurate statements and further does not discuss the fact that Real ID is international not just national. We would ask that the public and lawmakers read our latest update on our home page. It not only provides information that the "article" does not address but facts that the public will be outraged about. We supply the substantiating documents to support each fact we present. The "fox" is coming back in sheep's clothing. We are going state to state and working with citizens. groups and lawmakers in opposition to Real ID and SB 717. Some of the lawmakers quoted in the article are part of our Coalition. I was asked by our members to supply this response. We ask that each person visit our web-site at www.stoprealidcoalition.com for facts versus an overview that lacks a great deal of information and would lead readers to make wrong assumptions. Thank you
Mark Lerner
co-founder Stop Real ID Act Coalition
drudge|10.10.08 @ 11:08PM|#
"Not unless someone invented silent explosives, sunshine." ???
http://video.google.com/videosearch?q=explosions+wtc+7&hl=en&emb=0&aq=f#
wake up dumbass
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