The USA has always had a "Real I.D.".. It's called a passport

Instead of all this new gobbledygook, and untold unfunded ma ndates, the US could have just started requiring passports to fly.. Then they could have spent the same money to drop the price to GET a passport to that of a state id/driver's license.

The ID(PASSPORT) would have your picture, would be valid for a number of years, and anyone who was NOT a US citizen would have to produce their own country's passport.,,. Pretty much sorts it all out, and there would be many fewer "mix-ups" when it came time to vote, since you have to be a citizen, and a passport pretty much proves that..

The mechanism is already in place to produce passports, and you never know when a free trip will pop up..

My husband and I ended up with a free trip to Tahiti in '03, and we RAN to the post office to get our passports :)

I really do not see a problem with the airlines asking for a passport when we travel.. other countries do this routinely, and no one complains about it:)

that I believe it will start being required for other things than just flying. Skipping the whole slide down the slippery slope, I worry that it will be required in the relatively near future for even interstate travel, not to mention applying for welfare, checking into hospitals, etc. There's also the corporate largesse aspect you mentioned.

business. Most of the people she works with grew up better off than her and were suprised to hear that many people didn't have them.

But as the other poster pointed out, the sole purpose of the passport is to substantiate that you are a citizen of a particulary country, having established, to that country's satisfaction, that this is so. It is required to travel internationally. some countries require a person exchanging currency to show a foreign passport, but that is to ensure that that country's foreign exchange rules are followed. I've lived and worked overseas for the better part of 20 years, and that's pretty much it regarding passports.

Once you start requiring that passport for domestic matters, it is, indeed, a slippery slope.

Drivers' licenses should be used for one purpose and one purpose only -- to enusre that the individual posssessing one has met the minimum requirements for safe driving. It galls me to no end that I have to show my driver's license when I pay with a check. On the one hand, I don't mind so much that it's used to verify my address on the check. I don't have much difficulty with that. What bothers me is when the license information is written on the check, the implication being, somehow, that the state will get involved in some way if the check is returned for non-payment. I'd like to take a one-man stand against this, but I'd never get to pay for things with a check. Yes, I know I can use my debit card, and I do that. It's just the principle of the thing.

Back to the passport -- Remember, this sucker is machine readable. What's the stop banks, stores, hotels, etc. from being required to document our actions with the passport. Yeah, yeah. If I'm not doing anything wrong I have nothing to fear. How about if I want to do nothing wrong without anyone else knowing of my activities? Is that too much to ask? Apparently so.

there could be NO CHALLENGE to the citizenship.. That may be why repubes are looking for a second tier ID.. Once the RealID is instated, there will be probably be accusations of counterfeiting if the "wrong people" use them to vote:(..

I have long-advocated getting every "marginal" person in the US, a passport.. These are always the people who have voting hassles, and are always ID-challenged, since lots do not even drive..

By now there is a file on almost everyone, anyway.. What "protects" most of us is the sheer VOLUME.. Do we think they are really going to hire the amount of people necessary to "monitor" all of us :)

Having an up-to-date passport means you'll have a better chance of expatriating when necessary. Dog forbid it should come to that, but it never hurts to plan ahead.

I wonder if the mechanism is really in place to process 250-million passports. And would the fee still apply? Most Americans would balk at the fee, stating "I ain't got no plans to leave the good ol' USA anywho. Why would I wanna go to them furrin countries? I don't need no passport!"

On edit, I found this info on US passports issued:

U.S. Passports Issued per Fiscal Year (1996 - present) Note: As of 1996, passport statistics are tabulated for the fiscal year.
1996 - 5,547,693
1997 - 6,295,003
1998 - 6,539,864
1999 - 6,722,198
2000 - 7,292,182
2001 - 7,119,506
2002 - 7,001,482
2003 - 7,300,667
2004 - 8,825,410

That's roughly 61 million passports issued over the past 10 years (an adult passport is issued for 10 years, kids for 5), which means 22% of Yanks hold passports right now, so my 5% stat above is wrong.

to lower the price for passports.. I would bet too, that the REAL ID cards will not be valid as long as a passport, so one will have to keep getting new ones..

A passport should be a nominal fee anyway, since it's a great document for government purposes too..and once you have one, a renewal is very inexpensive and can be done at any post office with very little fuss

Americans we met seemed astonished that we'd come all the way from London. One guy said, "London - how did you get here?!" Duh - on a plane.
So out of interest I started asking people how often they used their passport. Out of about 10 people I asked, no one had one. Another guy said that he was "never gonna leave the States - it's all here."

Personally I don't see the problem with having to carry an ID; I guess it is a continental European thing.


My experience is that I needed to show my passport and my ID to more people stateside in two weeks, than I have to in Europe for a whole year.
Buying an Amtrak ticked: (Passport Please. Sorry, it is in my suitcase - will this ID card do? (note the ID has exactly the same features as the passport). No Sir, as of this week we are required to check the passports of all foreign travelers ...)
Buying a beer: ID please
Entering a bar: ID please.
...

I really don't see the problem Americans have with getting a normal ID card; there is probably no country on earth where people are required to show their papers more frequently right now. Having a standard, fake-proof set of papers might actually make things better.



On Edit: Got to agree with you though: a passport should be equal to any ID card. (changed the subject line as well)

If you look at your SS card, its says, very plainly, that is NOT a form of ID and you shold guard your number.

So what does Preznit Fuckwad call for? SS card as one fo the four forms of ID they will require for you to get the new "'papers'.

Hey Georgie ... what country are **you** from? You certainly don't act like any American I used to know.

there were evn BLANK checks called "counter checks" that you could just fill your name address and bank account on, and pay with them,.