Say hello to the future.

"On each landing, opposite the lift shaft, the poster with the enormous face gazed from the wall. It was one of those pictures which are so contrived that the eyes follow you about when you move. BIG BROTHER IS WATCHING YOU, the caption beneath it ran."
George Orwell, 1984

"Holy shit. Congress passed The Real ID Act yesterday."
The BDS, 2005

Other than hearing the occasional voice inside our head quietly request an Alaskan microbrew, the BDS is not the paranoid type. We don't rile easily when the NRA uses fear tactics to drive membership. We rarely think twice about black helicopter claims and laugh at the notion late-night talk radio espouses regarding the government's ultimate plan to subqutaneously emplant a microchip into your arm.

And then something like this happens.

The bill is called H.R. 418; The Real ID Act. Slipped into a bill appropriating money for the U.S. military in Iraq (thereby assuring its passage with few questions asked 'cause no one wants to be seen as not supporting the troops), it passed in both the House and Senate WITHOUT DEBATE. It now awaits the President's signature which will probably happen by the end of this week.

The Act requires all states to issue machine-readable (ie. bar codes or magnetic strips) biometrically encoded (ie. fingerprints or, seriously, retinal scans) identification cards (ie. repurposed, revamped driver's license). These cards will have to meet federal standards that specify who qualifies for one, what information they contain and what documents you have to show in order to get one.

Within three years (by 2008), you will not be able to travel by plane or train, open a bank account, start a new job, enter a federal building, use a government service or collect Social Security benefits without first flashing what amounts to a national identification card. Practically speaking, your driver's license will have to be reissued to meet federal standards.

Those states who refuse to impliment the federal ID program will, according to the bill, have federal grant money withheld. Worse yet, its citizens won't be able allowed to fly on a plane. Or open a savings account. Or enter a federal building their tax dollars paid for.

Guys, we're not making this up.

So what's the big deal? For starters, it won't stop terrorism (which was the major excuse used to ram it through Congress). The Act wouldn't have stoped the Sept. 11 hijackers, who were in the United States legally to begin with. It does nothing to combat the sale of fake license, either (quite the contrary, actually; the black market value will skyrocket making the fraud much more lucritive and appealing). In terms of unfunded mandates, it appears individual states will be left holding the bill for implimentation, too. But nothing compares to the privacy issue being ignored.

With a national ID card, every retailer will swipe your ID under the guise of validating who you are. At the same time, they will be collecting valuable information on you that could theoretically be sold to data companies (ChoicePoint ring a bell with anyone?) They, in turn, could resell the info to just about anyone. Beyond that, any police officer who swipes your card during a routine traffic stop could feasibly see what you ate for lunch or how many boxes of shotgun shells you purchased at Cabela's before Opening Weekend.

See a freakin' probelm with any of this?

While we are not big fans of big government, we understand its primary role is to protect and defend the country from all enemies; both foreign and domestic. As such, the BDS and the rest of the country have shown their willingness to sacrifice certain freedoms in the name of national security. But The Real ID Act has taken that willingness too far, without so much as an honest debate on the issue. Hell, the cowards hid it inside a military spending bill, ready to call any detractors of the measure "unpatriotic".

That should tell you everything you need to know about the bill, those who signed it and one potential destiny of us all.