Show Me Your Papers?

I'm a bit bemused by some of the rhetoric about the Affordable Care Act. A member of my family links to some of it on his Facebook page. "Today marks a sad day in the history of America. With the Supreme Court's decision, Americans have lost the right to be left alone..." one of the links announces. As opposed to when? I wonder. As opposed to 1792 under the Militia Act? As opposed to the Alien and Sedition Acts? As opposed to the Civil War draft, both North and South? As opposed to being required to register for the draft and with the Social Security Administration?

A big question in all this is whether government is to be effective or not. The "Real ID" Act is what computer programmers call a "kludge." That is, a clumsy work around.

There is a way to provide a national ID card, used for all purposes. If effected, it would provide useful tools for keeping track of immigrants, tourists arriving on tourist visa, students on student visas, and all the other ways Foreign citizens arrive here. Every advanced European country has such a system. It can even be used to show eligibility to vote. It would sort out domicile for purposes of state taxes, child custody, eligibility to run for office, license plates, replace draft registration (except for the draft physical) and keep track of where potential draftees live, etc.

Good article on the concept by Bill Keller in today's New York Times. If we were really serious about immigration, voting, driver's licensing, etc. We might institute such a system.

But the present mish-mash serves many purposes. Among others, "libertarians" and other brands of conservatives want the government out of their business but into everyone else's.

It reminds me of Mississippi's former tax on illegally sold beverages. Baptists and others of their ilk could point with pride to statewide prohibition of distilled beverages. Those who sold such beverages paid the state tax and bought federal liquor licenses. Both of those entities were happy. The State Tax Collector collected the tax but was prevented by law from blowing the whistle on those who paid the tax. It was no more illegal to sell to high school and college students than to anyone else. Sheriffs had to get their share of the take under the table, but they were used to that. They might schedule a show raid near election time. Just a cost of doing business.

Something like that is going on with foreigners. If we kept effective track of everyone, what would the "view with alarm" crowd do?