Marching Towards a Police State

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The House-passed that bill broadly rewrites the rules for licenses is portrayed as an anti-terrorism tool. However, like Social Security numbers, it could be used for purposes well beyond their original intent.

The measure, passed by a 261-161 vote last month and supported by the Bush administration, could make it possible for the government to monitor people’s movements in the country through a chip in a license.

“Supporters of this don’t seem to have the ability to look beyond how this system they are putting in place can change. They can’t see how it can metamorphose into a national ID card,” said Steve Lilienthal, director of the Free Congress Foundation Center for Privacy & Technology.

Under the measure, states must verify they are giving licenses to U.S. citizens and legal residents. If they fail to do so, federal officers cannot accept licenses from residents of those states as proof of identity to get on an airplane or into a federal building, for example.

Lilienthal, whose think tank says it is politically and culturally conservative, asked what is there to stop the government from eventually requiring information about people’s health, criminal backgrounds or gun ownership.

Larry Pratt, executive director of Springfield, Va.-based Gun Owners of America, says the bill “hands an open-ended blank check” to the government to collect information about people.

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