I had a birthday yesterday, and as such, needed to renew my drivers license. Actually, convert it from my Commonwealth of Massachusetts license to a Maine license. I rushed home after Easter weekend with my friends up Mid-Coast down to Portland to grab my passport. I thought it expired at the same time, but it had expired in late March.
Why is this an issue? Follow me over the fold for more.
Maine tried to enact the whole ALEC agenda, but only got the ID/Drivers License part past: I don't have to show it to vote. However, that first part, proving that you're a citizen or here legally is still in force and creates a terrible barrier to people like me who want to renew or obtain a license to drive in the State of Maine.
Here's what I have to do:
Obtain a birth certificate from my home town in Massachusetts. Cost? Ten dollars.
Present that at the Bureau of Motor Vehicles along with a proof of state residence (not a problem)
I have a Social Security number which pegs me as having been born in Massachusetts in 1969. I have registered, in 1987, for Selective Service, and I have a name which is SO New England that it's laughable. But the State suspects all of us being undocumented aliens, and makes us pay for the privilege of proving that we are citizens. That is unacceptable.
What about the states that are now requiring photo ID at the polls? Well, it's a poll tax, plain and simple. Jumping through hoops to prove you're a citizen and paying for the privilege is just beyond the pale.
I will renew my passport so I can join a friend this summer on a trip to Quebec. It will cost me about $200.00. My license will cost me twenty, same as an ID card if I did not have to drive a car. Required ID, including passports, should be FREE, especially if some states require it for voting. Charging citizens to prove their citizenship is vile, repulsive, and frankly, smacks of Soviet Union tactics.
Write your congresscritters and ask them to pass a bill that allows every citizen--native born or naturalized--to obtain a passport without cost.
And they say this is a "free country".