The Shape Of Things To Come

From not-so Great Britain, (via our comrade in arms, Bill St. Claire) comes a glimpse of our future under the REAL ID nightmare we are facing. Henry Porter, a subject of Her Majesty wrote a great piece on the subject of England's National ID card scam and National Identity Register and the lies behind it. If you think this may not have any bearing on the US, you might want to think again. The justifications given by the State are virtually the same that we have heard in the U.S. where the REAL ID Act is concerned. The system is the same and there is zero reason to assume that the US will not utilise REAL ID in the same manner as the Brits.

The government's arguments in favour of ID cards keep shifting, and the hugely expensive project has been sold to the British public on a false prospectus. The government began by saying it would prevent terrorism. When that wasn't tenable, it said it would prevent ID theft. When that didn't work, it said it would prevent benefit fraud and when that didn't work it resorted to claiming that it would help control illegal immigration.

Photographing and digitally ID'ing people as a matter of course is becoming an all too familiar thing in England and here in the US. I stopped by my unfriendly Chase ATM today to get some of my money and there was a camera pointing straight in my face with a new sign saying that the increased security was for my protection. I pulled my ball cap down low, used peripheral vision to complete my transaction and drove off. I'll be using a different bank in the future I think.

The country Mr. Porter describes is just around the corner for us. Britain is, for all intents and purposes the testing grounds for this new police state ID. There can be little doubt that the US is not just watching, but watching closely. So far England, like the US has shown no willingness on the part of the populace to just say no to the surveillance society that is coming.

230 years ago some of our ancestors fought a war to free ourselves from the British Monarchy and government. Today we are closer than ever to emulating that very same country and having an ever present Big Brother police state imposed upon us by our "elected Representatives" via the REAL ID Act. The fact that so few care enough, (including many neo-libertarians and their talk radio gurus) to fight this points up the inevitability of things. England represents the Shape of Things To Come.

You will be required to attend an enrollment centre with some form of identifying material - bank statements, credit cards, driving licence or birth certificate, who knows what. Then you will be fingerprinted, photographed and the iris in your eye will be measured. You will give the authorities 49 pieces of information about yourself. If you don't, you may be fined up to £2,500. Additional fines of up to £2,500 may be levied every time you fail to comply.

If you fail to inform the police or Home Office when you lose your card, or if it becomes defective, you face a fine of up to £1,000. If you find someone else's card and do not immediately hand it in, you may have committed a criminal offence punishable by imprisonment for up to two years, or a fine, or both. And you will be fined £1,000 if you fail to inform the NIR of any change of address. You will also be expected to tell the authorities your previous addresses. Truly the government will be able to say with all the menace of the underworld enforcer: "We know where you live."

If you don't inform the register of significant changes to your personal life, or any errors they have made, you will face a fine of up to £1,000. Astonishingly, you may also face a fine if you fail to submit to being reinterviewed, rephotographed, refingerprinted and rescanned.

Is this the America you wish to live in? It's not the one I wish to live in, nor is it the one my ancestors fought to free from English tyranny. Folks, our time is running out to stop the REAL ID Act and its supporters. If it isn't stopped this country will end up exactly as England is now. A camera in every doorway and on every corner. Demands to show your papers when you do something as simple as enter a building. Forced submission to photographs in order to conduct business and so many more violations of your basic rights to privacy and to travel unmolested. If this is the type of police state you wish to live in, then do nothing. If you wish to live free, as the Founders of this country are said to have wished for us then get off your asses and stop this travesty before it's too late.

In the U.S. we have us, The REAL ID Rebellion. Help us grow the concept and spread the message. In the UK we have kindred spirits in the form of NO2ID. Freedom is contagious, folks...get infected and spread it. It's the only disease worth having.

Technorati Tags:
REAL ID, Libertarian, Politics, Bush
Tony Blair, England, Police State


Crossposted from UnCivil Defence.