In response to the attacks of September 11, 2001, and the ongoing threat of additional terrorist activity, the United States Congress passed the REAL ID Act of 2005. This legislation modified U.S. federal law pertaining to security, authentication, and issuance procedure standards for state driver's licenses and identification (ID) cards, as well as various immigration issues pertaining to terrorism. In the future, only those state issued Driver Licenses and Identification cards which are fully compliant with the REAL ID act of 2005 will be authorized for use as identification for official federal government purposes, such as boarding commercial aircraft and entering certain regulated federal facilities.
In the course of running errands this past weekend I had to pull out my driver’s license. I did not immediately return it to my wallet. Big mistake. Some time later I went to return it to my wallet and could not find it. After 2,3 days of unsuccessfully looking for it I decided to call it lost and go to the DMV for a replacement.
In response to federal legislation designed to keep us safe from terrorists, (and probably also because of recent state anti-illegal immigration legislation), Alabama now requires that one of the following forms of ID be presented before a new license is issued:
- A driver’s license
- Military ID
- Marriage license
- Passport
- Birth certificate
- [This is the ID subset that applies given my citizenship.]
This presented a problem as I’m here because I’ve lost my driver’s license; I’m not in the military; I’m not married; I’ve never traveled abroad and so had no reason to incur the expense of a passport; and my birth certificate is a record in my home state, not a document that was pinned to my blanket when my parents brought me home from the hospital.
What I do have is my work ID. It’s federally issued as I’m a federal employee, which means that I am a U.S. citizen. This ID gains me access to the local closed military installation and the DoD computer network, which also means that I have a security clearance. I can get on a plane with this ID, but I can’t get a driver’s license with it. Talk about ridiculous.
So I’ve applied for a copy of my birth certificate. If I had been born in Alabama this would cost me a trip to my county health department and $15. In theory, the health department would have issued a copy of my birth certificate while I waited then I would have been able to go back to the DMV and had my license by the end of the day.
But I wasn’t born in Alabama. I was born in Michigan. So I have to order a copy from them. Thankfully they have an online ordering option that speeds things up. That, and the $75 that I have and am willing to spend on this option. Otherwise it’s snail mail and five weeks processing time. Yikes; I’m nervous enough that I may be without a license for a week.
What’s my point? One, “real” Americans may believe that laws such as the REAL ID Act or Wisconsin’s new voter ID law won’t affect them and so aren’t burdensome. They, as was I, would be wrong. Two, we are a mobile society and one nation, not 50. It's past time that we recognize this and nationalize more things, such as vital records and health insurance. Three, I’m tired of this security charade. REAL ID has not made me safer, just like taking my shoes off to get on a plane, or not being able to bring nail clippers onto a plane, or not being able to bring liquids though airport security haven’t made me safer. REAL ID would not have kept the Underwear Bomber off that flight to Detroit. And airport security might have prevented him from bringing a lighter on board, but we humans have a large brain & thumbs, and Boy Scouts can light a fire without a match. A determined individual would have figured out some other way to light that bomb.
Now don’t get me started on Sudafed.