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L. Neil Smith's THE LIBERTARIAN ENTERPRISE Number 319, May 15, 2005 "The End of America"
The End of America—May 10, 2005
Special to TLE On Tuesday, May 10, 2005, America became a true police state. Your U.S. senators voted—unanimously, with no discussion, and without even reading the bill—to create a national ID card. The Real ID Act blackmails state governments into turning their drivers licenses into a draconian tool of the federal homeland security apparatus. If states refuse, their citizens lose such "privileges" as being allowed to board an airplane, enter a federal building, or apply for social security. President Bush is expected to sign the bill eagerly on Thursday. In three years—by May 2008—this Stalin-style internal passport will be an American reality. But your government will have more control over you than Stalin ever dreamed in his most violent, vicious, anti-freedom dreams. (See links to the text of the law and articles about it at the bottom of this article.) But that's only the beginning. The creator of the Real ID Act, Rep. James Sensenbrenner, smiles and tells us that his Real ID Act is all about "solving illegal immigration" or "preventing terrorists from entering the country." This is one of the biggest of the thousands of "Big Lies" we've heard from the tyrants in Washington. The Real ID Act is about tracking and controlling Americans. You. Me. Our children. Everybody. In May 2008, barring a miracle, America as we once knew it will be in ruins. It will be gone. And the rights of gun owners will be among the first scheduled for destruction. GUN OWNERS: PREPARE TO RESIST Here's your future:
PARANOID? OR PAYING ATTENTION? You say these projections are ridiculous? That we're paranoid? Well, frankly, if the Real ID Act doesn't make you paranoid, you're not paying enough attention. We ask you to consider the long-term impact of a few other acts of government. In the 1930s, Congress promised us that our social security numbers would never, absolutely never, be used for identification. Now, they're the key to everything about us—and without a social security number you won't get a drivers license and you won't even be "allowed" to drive after May 2008. In 1913, Congress and the media swore to us that the brand-new income tax would only affect the rich. Well, how rich do you feel after paying 40 percent of your income (or more!) in taxes? This is the way government works. They've even got a term for it: mission creep. And there is no creepier mission than the mission the federal government has currently set itself: to track everyone, everywhere, and to control what we do. We warned you in The State vs. the People that this was coming. That book is still relevant, still a good read, and still filled with information about what our future will be like in this new American police state. Be forewarned. Be aware. REAL ID: IT'S THE LAW AND IT'S CRIMINAL Please take a moment to go to this site: http://www.rebelfirerock.com/home.html. Click on the link that leads to the song "Justice Day." Listen to the music or read the lyrics. Here's the opening of the song:
George Orwell was the first to describe totalitarianism as a "boot stomping on the human face forever." But in Orwell's day Americans would have had a hard time believing that the law—the good old, all-American legislature—all those smiling senators and "representatives" would be the ones to plant their iron heels in our faces. Back in those innocent days, we imagined tyranny would come from outside. Well, tyranny is here. And it's a gift from the very people we so trustingly put into office. Tyranny is THE LAW. Is this a way to run a country? Tacking something as onerous as national ID onto a must-pass bill and making it law without any debate? What does this say about people the gun owners consider their friends? In the House, where the bill containing the Real ID Act passed 368-58, only three Republicans voted against it. Here's the final roll-call vote so you can see how your own congressperson voted: http://clerk.house.gov/cgi-bin/vote.asp?year=2005&rollnumber=161#N (or http://tinyurl.com/cr3bj). In the Senate, not one person cared enough about freedom to vote against it—or even to demand that senators discuss it. (The Real ID Act originally passed the House in February as a standalone bill (H.R. 418) by a vote of 261-to-161. House leaders, realizing national ID would have been in trouble in the Senate, then added it to a must-pass military appropriations bill in a cynical ploy to make it almost impossible to fight national ID.) Turning America into a full-fledged police state was just business as usual to your representatives. And, just as Adolf Hitler scrupulously followed German law while committing his horrors, so your "representatives" and the bureaucrats you face at the national-ID drivers license bureau will also be following the law—the Real ID law that allows them to enslave you. (To see what a real Bill of Rights leader would do, read the novel Hope by Aaron Zelman and L. Neil Smith.) WHAT NEXT? We have two choices now: Resist or submit. More than 600 organizations, from the American Civil Liberties Union to the National Governors Association, opposed the bill. Even the American Association of Motor Vehicle Administrators (which loves national ID and was largely responsible for an earlier attempt at such legislation nine years ago) criticized it. We can expect lawsuits against national ID, including at least one suit led by state governments. However, nearly all the opposition from state governments focuses on one area: They're upset because the federal government didn't offer them extra money to enslave us. If Congress bribes them with enough millions and billions, they'll gladly sell our freedom. Only one state, Montana, has so far absolutely refused to cooperate with national ID. The Montana legislature passed a law saying they would not go along. However, that will mean that Montana residents are barred from flying without extreme extra scrutiny or from applying for federal benefits because their licenses will be "non-compliant." Although we applaud the courageous Montana legislators, no doubt we'll soon hear many Montanans demanding the "privilege" of having a real national ID card. Ultimately, real resistance is up to us, as individuals. There are certain courses of action JPFO cannot recommend. But every freedom lover should be pleased if all the people who had a hand in creating Real ID act lost their jobs—soon. And those individuals who truly value their (and their children's) futures should seriously consider making national ID their line in the sand. We have already heard from many people saying they will drive without a license rather than submit to a license that has become a Stalinist control document. We just hope their resolve stays equally strong when they face a world in which it's impossible to buy, sell, retire, travel—or buy a gun—without national ID. We ask you to remember men like Alexandr Solzhenitzyn and Natan Sharansky. Both stood up and boldly opposed a tyrannical regime in the Soviet Union. Both risked their lives. Both suffered horribly for their resistance and their protests. But eventually, they triumphed—and the Soviet Union crumbled. We are in need of such people, and such courage, today. We cannot wait for someone else to stand up and show that kind of integrity. We must become the kind of people we admire if we are ever again to live in a nation we can trust. G-d help us if we fail.* —The Liberty Crew
"Last Chance to Stop National ID" (written before Senate passage)
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