You have, perhaps, relatives in Berlin, ya?
A Commentary by J. D. Longstreet
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If there any question at all that we have lost America, then this should remove all doubt.
America is GONE, dear reader. Replaced by an all-out police state sometimes referred to as "Amerika." The only thing the two share in common is geography.
I had hoped not to live to witness this a second time, but here it is, and I am still on the sunny side of the grass.
For you younger folk who are wondering what this old man is babbling on about, understand, you are not old enough -- nor wise enough -- to understand, and to fear what's coming next. But I am.
America is reliving the 1930's in Germany all over again!
Most of us have forgotten the "REAL ID Act of 2005." But you can bet your bippy the feds haven't. Now they're insisting they're going to begin enforcing that Naziesque law -- and soon.
Do you have a valid drivers license issued by the state of your residence? Then you will soon have a national ID card -- whether you want it or not.
But here's the thing: The state driver's licenses will have to comply with the standards of our own American Gestapo -- the Federal Department of Homeland Security. The same goes for state issued ID cards, as well.
You may have missed it, but just before Christmas, when everybody was busy and likely not paying attention, the DHS announced a final schedule for the full enforcement of the REAL ID Act of 2005
"That was set for a phased implementation beginning in January 2014 and full-scale enforcement planned no later than May 2017, at which time the federal government will no longer accept state-issued driver’s licenses and ID cards that do not meet the minimum security standards set by DHS." -- SOURCE: http://www.wnd.com/2013/12/national-id-headed-for-your-wallet-purse/#T2YeRpyXEOAUvJ7K.99
Carefully consider the following: "Among the DHS requirements for a state-issued driver’s license to be DHS-compliant will be the presentation by the applicant of a valid birth certificate, verification of the applicant’s Social Security Number or documentation the person is not eligible for Social Security, and proof the applicant is either a U.S. citizen or lawfully admitted to the U.S. as a permanent or temporary resident.
Further, driver’s license and IDs issued by the states will have to meet stringent requirements as set by the federal government.
To qualify as DHS-compliant, state-issued driver’s licenses and ID cards must have built-in security features to prevent tampering, counterfeiting, and duplication of the documents for a fraudulent purpose.
They also must have features that establish the individual’s identity, including but not limited to full facial digital photographs, plus machine readable coded information in the form of a bar code that captures the key printed information on the card, such as name of the applicant, address, gender, unique driver’s license or card-identification number, state of issuance, date of application, and date of expiration.
Such state-issued enhanced drivers licenses, or EDLs, must be issued in state facilities in which all employees undergo background checks, including federal and state criminal record searches, as well as with technology that permit the state-issued cards to comply fully with travel rules issued under the Western Hemisphere Travel Initiative, or WHTI, such that the EDLs meet valid passport minimums for travel within the United States, Canada, and Mexico, as well as with Central and South America, the Caribbean, and Bermuda." -- SOURCE: http://www.wnd.com/2013/12/national-id-headed-for-your-wallet-purse/#T2YeRpyXEOAUvJ7K.99
If you live in a state that does not have DHS compliant driver's licenses, you may not be allowed to pass through Transportation Security Administration security in order to travel on airlines on trains within the United States or internationally. Read more at http://www.wnd.com/2013/12/national-id-headed-for-your-wallet-purse/#T2YeRpyXEOAUvJ7K.99
It's that "POLICE STATE" thing again! We've just lost more freedom in the name of security! Funny, I don't feel a darn bit more secure. In fact, I feel far more threatened by my own federal government than I EVER have from terrorists.
DHS has said that the TSA will continue to accept driver’s licenses and state-issued identification cards from all jurisdictions until at least 2016. That appears to mean that enforcement for boarding aircraft will not begin until 2016.
I ask again -- What is wrong with Americans? Have we forgotten who we are?
Yes, gentle reader, something profound has happened to Americans. That steel in our character is gone. That “damn the torpedoes, full steam ahead” characteristic of American manhood is not there any longer. Our so-called "cowboy" instinct is gone. "Home of the brave" in our national anthem should be purged from it's lyrics -- at least until we can regrow some cussed backbone.
It is embarrassing. We have become a nation of rude, crude, fat, slovenly, lazy scardy-cats! As a result, our way of life, our freedom, indeed, our nation is at risk.
American used to be known for sticking their finger in the eye of government. These days, however, we welcome their proffered "security." We accepted.
We don't seem to understand that those locked in cells are "secure." Those with shackles on their ankles and wrists are "secure." It makes no difference if the cell or the shackles are made of pure gold, they still bind us -- and bend us -- to someone else's will. A gilded cage is STILL a cage!
The federal government was created BY THE STATES to be an AGENT OF THE STATES. Today, however, it is the other way around -- the world turned upside down.
Consider the following closely: It is said that sovereignty of the states died at Appomattox Courthouse in April of 1865 when Lee surrendered to Grant. (And all this time you thought only the South lost!) At that moment every state lost its standing as a republic. Its sovereignty was gone -- forever. It makes no difference which side of the Mason-Dixon line your state happens to lie, it is no longer a sovereign state. It is, for all intents and purposes, a federal territory ruled over by the elite oligarchy in Washington , DC.
The historian Edward Gibbon had it about right when he wrote of ancient Athens: "In the end, more than freedom, they wanted security. They wanted a comfortable life and they lost it all… security, comfort, and freedom. When the Athenians finally wanted NOT TO GIVE TO SOCIETY BUT FOR SOCIETY TO GIVE TO THEM, when the freedom they wanted most was FREEDOM FROM RESPONSIBILITY, then ATHENS CEASED TO BE FREE...AND NEVER WAS FREE AGAIN!
America is the new Athens. Mr. Gibbon described modern America to a tee!
I had wanted my grandchildren to live, and grow up, in a free country. A country, which would allow them to be everything they are capable of being. I didn't want their prospects to be lessened by the intrusions of government. I feel owe them that. I owe them an America in which they can be FREE. Free to succeed and, yes, free to fail! I owe them an America my father, and my forefathers, placed in my safe keeping (as did yours) at my (our) birth. To my eternal shame -- I have failed.
Sadly, it was not to be. Free America is gone, perhaps forever. You see, to be worthy custodians of this nation’s freedom, it was incumbent upon us to insure that we pass America along no less free that when we received it.
That has not happened and all evidence available today seems to warrant that it will NOT happen -- ever again.
I have to conclude we have failed at the single most important task you and I had as adult Americans. That task was to preserve freedom in this country… to guarantee a future for our children in a free nation.
Our failure must be a stench in the nostrils of Providence.
This new EDL (Enhanced Driver's License) IS a National ID Card. Its purpose, from the beginning, was to be such. In my opinion, there is absolutely no difference between a national ID card and a tattooed number on your forearm.
"How the might have fallen," indeed!
© J. D. Longstreet
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