Please read Section 201(3)-(4) of the Real ID Act:
(3) OFFICIAL PURPOSE- The term ‘official purpose’ includes but is not limited to accessing Federal facilities, boarding federally regulated commercial aircraft, entering nuclear power plants, and any other purposes that the Secretary shall determine.
(4) SECRETARY- The term ‘Secretary’ means the Secretary of Homeland Security.
Source: https://www.dhs.gov/xlibrary/assets/real-id-act-text.pdf
In other words, the Secretary of Homeland Security has unilateral authority to expand the uses of real IDs. In their 2008 rule, DHS even doubled down:
“DHS does not agree that it must seek the approval of Congress as a prerequisite to changing the definition in the future (except of course to remove one of the three statutorily-mandated official purposes) as § 201(3) of the Act gives discretion to the Secretary of Homeland Security to determine other purposes.”
That could include voting, accessing medical care, etc. Do you trust Kristi Noem with this power? Do you trust every future secretary with this power?
If not, I urge you to not get a real id or real id driver’s license if you don’t have one, or turn in your real id for a state id or state driver’s license if you do have one, and instead get a passport. The DHS cannot enforce anything if the majority of Americans refuse to get real ids. Let us not just bow down to a national id that invades our privacy and could be used to control us.
The DHS cannot enforce anything if the majority of Americans refuse to get real ids.
That ship has sailed. Some states have been issuing them since 2012. Multiple political leaders from both sides opposed it: both Clintons, Ron Paul, Mike Huckabee, Obama. And advocacy groups on both sides opposed it: guns rights activist to immigrant rights activists to domestic violence aid groups. Too little, too late to swim against the post-9/11 security theater that George W Bush used to speedrun introducing so many bad things.
And the “what ifs” you presented are far from the worst they can do with it
“are far from the worst they can do”
I beg to differ. First, you should know there are plans to make real ids digital, possibly placed on your phone, and real-time and remotely accessible according to AAMVA testimony: https://docs.house.gov/meetings/HM/HM07/20231205/116640/HHRG-118-HM07-Wstate-GrossmanI-20231205.pdf
Now suppose that real ids are digital and required for medical care. Now, what’s gonna happen if you say something, or attend a protest etc., that the government or corporations don’t like? Well, in real time you will be denied your real id and consequently be unable to receive medical care.
This won’t happen today or even this decade. Right now they’re laying the groundwork for implementing this in maybe 20 years. That’s why we must fight back NOW.
What country are you even talking about? How on Earth can you burst in and shout a mysterious country’s laws without context?
We’re not your flatmates
I didn’t want one, but I was just given one the last time I went to get a DL.
Yeah, I’ve heard that from other people as well. What you should do: if you live in Florida, Georgia, Mississippi, Texas, or Wyoming, you can only get a real id. Contact your state legislators and governor to demand a state id. If you don’t live in those states, specifically request a state id and only bring what you need for a state id. In Illinois for example, you can prevent a real id from being issued to you by mistake by bringing only 1 proof of address instead of 2.
I don’t live in one of those states, so I’m not sure why it was done the way it was.
I started the DL application online and took the requested docs to an office to finalize it without seeing any option to select the type of license I wanted.
The woman who processed it actually told me I didn’t bring the right documents, but that it didn’t matter because I could just sign an affidavit stating that I really, actually do live here.
Something to note: In Florida, Georgia, Mississippi, Texas, and Wyoming, you can only get a Real ID. If you live in one of these states, please contact your state senator, representative, and governor to express your concerns and demand a state id.
Also, everyone should contact their members of congress and the president, and demand that the real id act be repealed.
Brother its been 20 years. You’re not stopping it now, especially not in this climate, with this administration. You’re daft if you think its something anyone cares about after 20 years of implementation. There are kids who were born when the law passed, whose first ID was a RealID, who are now working adults.
You’re daft if you think its something anyone cares about after 20 years of implementation.
The reason it’s taken 20 years to implement (and actually, it still hasn’t technically been implemented, since we’re still in the initial enforcement stage) is because people cared and still do.
