With the Real ID Act in place, we will be forced to provide personal recorded documentation, upon demand, in order to identify ourselves as citizens. Sound familiar? If not, think a little harder. This system was used in Germany by Hitler, whereupon, persons were forced to produce documentation concerning their private lives in order to identify themselves as Germans. In Nazi Germany, it was sold as a way to protect the security of the motherland. In the U.S., the Real ID Act is being sold to us as a way to improve homeland security.

Speaking of private lives, remember back in the day when only criminals were fingerprinted? Nowadays, for whatever reason, we have allowed ourselves to be treated like criminals. First we give up a fingerprint and then an iris scan. Eventually, it should be no problem giving up our bodies for a chip. Sound far-fetched? It is already being done, not for national security but to make it easier to pay a bar tab. Yes, our right to privacy, the protection of our bodies, seems to have diminished along with our good sense. So, why not take it a step further?

As if identity theft isn’t bad enough, why not put ALL our information in one place? Let’s think about this for a moment. In your home, do you keep all your valuables out where people can see them and know exactly where they are at all times? I would hope not. Is your life valuable? I would hope so. So, why then would we ever want to keep all of the valuable personal information about our life in one place where everyone in the world knows where it is and has access to it? Think about how many times a day your information is accessed and who accesses it from a card, currently. How many times a day does a card of yours get swiped, recorded and filed? (Yes, they keep records now, even on what you buy with that little discount card at the grocery store.)

Now, imagine this access coming from a single card. Your driver’s license, your bank card, your social security card, do you really want all that information in one place? Well, with the Real ID Act, it is only a step away. Don’t believe me? Look it up, they now have a way to pay your gas with your driver’s license. Do you really want the person running the gas station or the kid who slings your burgers to have access to all your personal identification information, in the future?

If we are willing to voluntarily give away our right to privacy in order to some clerk to buy groceries, beer and cigarettes, do you really think it is going to matter if the new card is tamper-proof and read by machine? Remember, we decided to make our California Driver’s License tamperproof by adding the hologram and making it machine readable. Did that stop anyone from ID theft? No, I daresay, it didn’t.

Think this ID won’t be used and abused for these purposes in the United States Of America? Did you know that originally the social security card was to be used strictly for tax id purposes? In fact, it originally stated very clearly on the card that it was NOT to be used for ID purposes. In fact, it was applied for when you were ready to get a job and not as soon as you were born, contrary to what it is today. Now, ask yourself, what is the number one use of the social security card today? Now, think again, do you really want to get behind a Real ID?

Or do you want to get in front of it and stop it before it is too late? At least three states have opted out of the Real ID Act, altogether. At least 16 others have passed resolutions against it. California Assemblyman Pedro Nava of Santa Barbara introduced resolution AJR 51 which asks California Congressional delegates to re-appeal the Real ID Act or opt out, as well.

I urge you to write to our congressional representatives, our governor and even our president, concerning this issue, before it is too late and history repeats itself.

Andrea Anderson lives in Lakeport.

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