I don't like the idea, but Kristof makes a compelling argument.
First, we should adopt a national ID card. Surprisingly, this is anathema to many conservatives. If the right is willing to imprison people indefinitely and send young people off to die in Iraq in the name of security, then why is it unthinkable to standardize driver's licenses into a national ID?
That's right! All the non-drivers can then be outed as the unpatriotic termites they are!
Conservatives feel that man is infinitely corruptible. The potential for abuse and human error is just too great for them to feel comfortable with this.
There's also strong libertarian streak running through many conservatives. Part of their family values platform comes from the belief that, ultimately, family is more reliable than any state or government.
Kristoff is being somewhat disingenuous. He's blurring the distinction between radical statists and the traditional conservatives. Just because there's overlap on some issues doesn't mean there's support for a police state measure.
Hey, if your mother's name is Gertrude Himmelfarb, you can do what the f you want!
Hey, my mom's name is Gertrude Himmelfarb Sullivan. Are you trying to say something, Wolof?
Sorry, just a lazy ad eminem on my part.
What the Gertrude Himmelfarb does "f" mean?
And I'll need to see some ID!
Will people stop talking about my mom. Gertrude Himmelfarb is a common name among Sullivans
WTGHD"F"M?
Kristoff is being somewhat disingenuous. He's blurring the distinction between radical statists and the traditional conservatives. Just because there's overlap on some issues doesn't mean there's support for a police state measure.
You make some really good points. To add to what you said, I think a national ID card is a more palpable element to the whole police state thing. For all the complaining about the Patriot Act, it seems from media reports as if those powers haven't been used much, and if they have been we aren't feeling the effects. That's not to say I agree with the idea of the Patriot Act, but you have to admit that a national ID card, being what it is -- a physical object that everyone will be required to carry, at least according to the law -- is an entirely different type of thing.
As for Kristoff, I can kind of see where he's going about the detainees, but the bit about "send(ing) young people off to die in Iraq in the name of security" is gratuitous and doesn't really cut it as a comparison.
The initial opposition to Patriot from libertarians, various left leaning tendencies and traditional conservatives was based on a dread of bad precedents being set. None of them, us, like creeping authoritarian solutions to complex issues.
Pundits needn't fear being humiliated by unnecessary strip searches and similar indignities. If they fall victim to abuse, they have a platform to make it known. Kristoff is a wealthy, well known man. He can dither and misrepresent with impunity. Class warfare, anyone?
Tonight, after I crawl into bed with my wife, I think I'm going to pay a little "special attention" to my her "Gertrude Himmelfarb," if you know what I'm saying (and I think you do).
Aaawww, yeah....
my
NO, if we combine all state drivers licenses into one major national ID, what will all the teenagers wanting fake ID's do? They rely on the inability of the 7-11 clerk to distinguish the security features of a drivers license for a state other than their own. It's all a conspiracy!
Good thing I'm "of age"
In Ontario the kids are smarter - they get the 365 (lerner's permit) of someone who looks like them but is a couple of years older. (I actually never did this, not being bright enough - we just cultivated bars that didn't card. Now, a decade later, I get carded, and I still have no id!)
Upon re-reading Kristoff's column, I'm even more impressed with the sheer force of his banality and bogus logic.
Today the identity card.
Tomorrow the forcibly installed ID chip.
And after that, the penalties for not having them in place.
And right before the final collapse of society, the police lining up and shooting the unchipped. Who will, of course, not be counted as casualties, or even people, since they have lack proper ID.
...Real IDs could also be required to buy cold medicine and to prove employment eligibility. Toilet paper, too. You wastrels that wrap it around your hand without counting the squares are going to get it next.
Oh yeah. Beginning of the end.
Going to track you cradle to grave. The gummint's going to know the who/what/when/where/how of you. In an attempt to subvert the hidden microphones, you will sit your grandchildren on your knee, look at their trusting little faces turned up to you, and begin to mime your story how 'merikins once had freedom. The ThoughtPolice will be breakin' down the doors before you've barely wheezed out, "Back in the day..." because of the cameras implanted up the kids' nasal passages.
my