National ID
"Government has turned the inalienable right of personal liberty into a privilege - and we have let them. At the same time, our elected representatives practice a great amount of liberty by consistently disregarding the Constitution they swore an oath to uphold. As long as we are willing to give up a little liberty for a little security, we will eventually have neither, a proposition often attributed to Benjamin Franklin. Can you drive to the store without carrying a State granted permission slip to travel. Can you board a train without presenting the same? Can you sell used CD's to a store without a picture ID? In the works is a National Data Base created under the Real ID Act that will store any and every tidbit of information that can possibly be collected on your habits, purchases, travels, health, web activity, and the like. Accompanied with the "Thought Police Act", or the Homegrown Terrorism and Violent Radicalization Act, the government will have a powerful tool for oppression of dissent. Will the Real ID make you safe from terrorists? No. It will merely force those that believe in violence as a means to an end to become more organized and more lethal. It will also be your permission to live outside the prison walls. Ultimately, it will become commonplace to hear, "May we see your papers, please?" As for me - Give me Liberty or Give me Death! Vote for me and help to repeal this totalitarian legislation and others like it."
--Michael Benoit
