by Kingcoal » Mon 09 Jul 2007, 09:21:45
If you have a Social Security number, you already have a United States (federal) ID card. The only thing different about this is that it would now have your picture on it. A lot of people don't realize it, but you don't have to have a Social Security number. In order to get one, your parents signed you up for it. If you are in a public place, minding your own business, not doing anything illegal, you have the constitutional right to your privacy. If something happens around you, like a terrorist attack and you are interviewed by the police, you will be required to identify yourself with some accepted form of official ID. However, the federal government does not have the jurisdiction to broadly require citizens of one of the "several States" to have a federal ID unless that citizen is involved in an activity which comes under federal jurisdiction. The States, however, can require an ID credential as long as that credential doesn't violate something in the constitution. It's all a matter of jurisdiction, when you are a natural born State citizen and don't have any contracts with the federal government, you are not under federal jurisdiction, you are under State and Local jurisdiction.
All this goes back to the "Commerce Clause." Look it up, it's fascinating reading. The Constitutional Commerce Clause has been so liberally interpreted by the courts that it's a wonder that the States even exist anymore. Law schools jokingly refer to the Commerce Clause as the "everything clause" because it's been used to justify every kind of Federal intrusion imaginable. Recently, one Supreme Court justice complained that the Commerce Clause has been abused and that abuse should be curtailed to prevent the establishment of a national Police State. Thank god for the Supreme Court! Without them, we'd be in a complete totalitarian society by now.
"That's the problem with mercy, kid... It just ain't professional" - Fast Eddie, The Color of Money