Liberty Maven

D o w n s i z e r – D i s p a t c h

“The State is that great fiction by which everyone tries to live at the expense of everyone else.” — Frederic Bastiat, French economist of the 19th Century

“How did I go bankrupt? Two ways. Slowly, and then all of a sudden.” — paraphrased from “The Sun Also Rises” by Ernest Hemingway

“May you live in interesting times.” — a proverbial Chinese curse

• Retained, and in some cases expanded, all the Bush-era policies — the wars, the PATRIOT Act, warrantless spying, REAL ID, imprisonment without due process, extraordinary rendition, etc.
• Begun to extend the already existing foundations for a future socialist state with things like direct government ownership of businesses, the health care bill, cap and trade, and a host of other measures big and small

Put the Bush and Obama policies together, sprinkle in a couple more terrorist attacks, and one or two more state-caused financial calamities, and you have a recipe for . . .

• The destruction of American liberty
• The blossoming of a Leviathan State

Read the signs . . .

We are living through a Statist revolution.

Statism is a mindset that prefers coercion to cooperation. Statists love the State because they are blind to its fundamental nature . . .

• The State is a monopoly that you cannot easily fire, replace, or even control
• Everything the State does relies on coercion

If you decide that . . . Read More »

D o w n s i z e r – D i s p a t c h

Please send Congress a letter objecting to any further funding for REAL ID.

You can copy what I said in my letter to Congress . . .

I’m upset that Congress just appropriated $60 million for the REAL ID national identification scheme. I’ve asked you repeatedly to repeal REAL ID, and replace it with nothing. I’m repeating my request today.

I do not want a centralized national ID system. It lays the foundation for a police state, and will do little or nothing to improve security. Instead, it will subject me to increased risk of identity theft, and eventually entangle me in new Congressional schemes to do things like control my health care decisions.

I also object because the REAL ID Act was passed under false pretenses. It was rejected three times by the U.S. Senate, and was only enacted because it was added to a larger bill containing funding for disaster relief and Iraq. REAL ID never could have passed on its own merits, but now that we have it, we can’t seem to get rid of it. But you, as my representative, can do something about this . . .

Please introduce legislation to repeal REAL ID and replace it with nothing. I’m paying close attention to how you represent me.

END OF SAMPLE LETTER

You can send your letter to Congress here.

Read More »

D o w n s i z e r – D i s p a t c h

Quote of the Day: “A danger foreseen is half avoided.” –Thomas Fuller (1608-1661)

A bill numbered H.R. 3471 calls itself “The REAL ID Repeal and Identification Security Enhancement Act of 2009.” The bill was introduced by Representative Steve Cohen, a Democrat from Tennessee. Here’s the good part . . .

H.R. 3471 would actually repeal the REAL ID Act. Thus, the REAL ID scheme to create a national identity card would be gone.

Here’s what we consider the pretend part . . .

H.R. 3471 also restores the identity security provisions of the “Intelligence Reform and Terrorism Prevention Act.”

These provisions are indeed better than those in the REAL ID Act. But there are aspects that lead us to view it in a more harsh light than perhaps some others would. Read what the ACLU says about the bills and see if you can spot the sticking point . . .

“Similar to the Akaka-Sununu Senate bill of 2007 and the Allen House bill of 2007, Rep. Cohen’s bill would eliminate most of the requirements that laid the foundation for a National ID card, such as the obligation that all data and systems be standardized. The proposal also requires a collaborative approach, called negotiated rulemaking, which would advise the Department of Homeland Security on how to maximize driver’s license security while minimizing the administrative burden on the states.”

The troublesome words are “most of the requirements that laid the foundation for a National ID card,” and “negotiated rulemaking.”

“Most of the requirements” doesn’t mean “all of the requirements.” In addition . . .

We’ve written an entire piece of legislation, called the “Write the Laws Act,” that would prohibit unelected Executive Branch bureaucrats from enacting any kinds of rules whatsoever.

The fact that these rules would (as we understand it) be negotiated with other unelected bureaucrats in the various states doesn’t make it much better, and it might even make it worse. Likewise . . .

Read More »

Here at Liberty Maven we have posted more than a dozen articles on the ridiculous fiasco that is the Real ID Act.  It is wrong on so many levels (which have been discussed previously, so I won’t rehash those now).  Eleven states have refused to comply.

Now that Obama has taken the throne, they seem to be backing off REAL ID.  Sort of.  The results aren’t pleasing.  Instead of having our Constitutional Lawyer President denounce the clear illegality of REAL ID, the whole mess is simply going to be renamed in typical government style, with most of the heinous unconstitutional provisions kept intact.

Terrific.

They’re attempting to soften it somewhat, but for me the only true solution is to trash the whole kit and caboodle.  The Washington Post reports:

“The department’s goal is to fix, not repeal” Real ID, allowing all jurisdictions to comply by year’s end, said a DHS official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity before a formal announcement.

“If the law cannot be implemented, it is hard to claim that it increases security,” said David Quam, lobbyist for the NGA.

The new plan keeps elements of Real ID, such as requiring a digital photograph, signature and machine-readable features such as a bar code. States also will still need to verify applicants’ identities and legal status by checking federal immigration, Social Security and State Department databases.

But it eliminates demands for new databases — linked through a national data hub — that would allow all states to store and cross-check such information, and a requirement that motor vehicle departments verify birth certificates with originating agencies, a bid to fight identity theft.

Instead, it adds stronger privacy controls and limits such development to a pilot program in Mississippi. DHS would have nine months to write new regulations, and states would have five years to reissue all licenses, with completion expected in 2016.

Supporters saw a slimmer measure as better than nothing. But critics said the changes gut the law, weakening tools to fight fraud and learn whether bad drivers, drug runners or counterfeiters have licenses in more than one state.

God help us.

D o w n s i z e r – D i s p a t c h

MEDIA NOTICE: Today (Friday), Jim Babka is scheduled to appear on “Straight Talk w/ Jerry Hughes,” starting at 3:05 PM Eastern. Listening details can be found on the DownsizeDC.org blog.

Quote of the Day: “I won’t call it Real ID, I’ll call it enhanced or higher security drivers license.” — Robert V. LaPenta, President and CEO of L-1 Identity Solutions, which stands to be a primary beneficiary of any government scheme for a national ID card

The so-called Department of Homeland Security (DHS), and certain politicians, are trying multiple ways to impose a national ID card on us, even though the American people have made it very clear we don’t want it.

One under-handed scheme started with the passage of the Western Hemisphere Travel Initiative, which requires law abiding U.S. citizens to have either a passport or an enhanced drivers license to cross the Mexican or Canadian borders. An “enhanced drivers license”…

* Is an initiative of the DHS that has NO Congressional mandate
* Will require you to undergo a security interview, pay a fee, and get a new federal ID number (in addition to your Social Security number)
* Has an RFID chip that can be read at a distance, up to 30 feet away, even while it’s in your wallet!

Now things are being rigged to move citizens in the direction of the enhanced drivers license.

The problem starts with the fact that passports are too expensive. The high price gives people an incentive to pay for the enhanced drivers license, which is about half the cost. The Government Accounting Office had already issued a report saying that the $100 price for a passport didn’t need to be that high, but…

Now they’ve raised the price even higher. Representative Paul Opsommer of Michigan suspects the purpose of this is to drive even more people to get the cheaper (but more dangerous) enhanced drivers license.

Please notice that all of this is being driven NOT by Congress, but by un-elected bureaucrats in the DHS and the State Department. But that doesn’t mean Congress is blameless. Congress is doing nothing to reign in the bureaucrats, plus, some are even working to make things worse. For instance…

Read More »

D o w n s i z e r – D i s p a t c h

Quote of the Day: “The worst evils which mankind has ever had to endure were inflicted by bad governments. The state can be, and has often been . . . the main source of mischief and disaster.” — Ludwig von Mises (1881-1973) Economist and social philosopher

Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano has pledged to review/reconsider the REAL ID national identity card.

It’s not hard to see why. Many Americans hate REAL ID, and 22 states have refused to comply with the program. DC Downsizers alone have bombarded Congress with 112,227 message demanding that REAL ID be repealed. So . . .

Should we be happy that Napolitano wants to review the REAL ID program? Not very. At best, we believe the outcome will be to . . .

* Repackage the program, perhaps under a new name
* Divide the program into parts, so it can be implemented in stages, such as with the TWIC program
* Concoct ways to bribe and coerce state governments to submit to the revised program

It’s hard to envision that REAL ID will really disappear, until or unless we compel Congress to repeal the authorizing legislation. In fact, we believe that REAL ID, in one form or another, is part of a grand scheme to empower the federal government to track everyone and everything at all times! This grand scheme includes . . .

* The National Animal Identification System (NAIS)
* A new system being devised to track food products
* The NSA system of universal warrantless spying on Americans
* And the new federal program to create universal electronic health records

We believe that all of these programs will eventually be combined to give the Feds “total information awareness.”

Are we being hysterical? Many would claim that we are, and they could point to aspects of current government plans that fall far short of being able to “track everyone and everything at all times.” But such criticisms miss a crucial point. The evidence is overwhelming that government programs . . .

Read More »

D o w n s i z e r – D i s p a t c h

Quote of the Day: “Big brother is bad enough. Do you really want him working for the DMV?” – Knute Berger, Seattle Weekly, January 18, 2006

Politicians exploit crises not only to expand their own power, but also to make us forget previous transgressions. We doubt they do this intentionally, but we’re certain they do it continuously.

The government created financial crisis will continue to occupy our attention, but we must not be diverted from fighting old wrongs, like the REAL ID Act, especially since REAL ID now threatens your health care.

Remember, the REAL ID Act forces state governments to create a national identification card connected to a centralized federal database. You’ll need a REAL ID to board a plane, hold a job, or BE A PERSON! But it gets worse . . .

We’ve long maintained that REAL ID cards will eventually contain biometric identifiers. Now our prediction is coming closer to reality. The scam-stimulus bill contained two terrible provisions . . .

* You must have a single, searchable electronic medical record by 2014
* A new bureaucracy, the National Coordinator of Health Information Technology, will collect your electronic medical information and potentially monitor your health care choices

Whenever there’s the potential that the government will do something, you might as well say that it’s inevitable. All of this is part of a step-by-step plan to completely fund and control all health care from the top down.

We predict that the REAL ID card, perhaps by a different name, will be connected to your electronic medical records to control and ration your health care!

Eventually, you’ll need a REAL ID card to receive medical care, and the kind of care you receive will be determined by far-off bureaucrats. This will be done in the name of controlling health care costs, but it will actually make health care more expensive, cumbersome, and less effective.

We must stop this from happening!

DC Downsizers have so far bombarded Congress with 109,963 messages demanding the repeal of REAL ID. Twenty states have also refused to comply with the law. But we must keep pushing. The health care provisions in the scam-stimulus bill make it even more imperative that we kill REAL ID.

Please use our quick and easy Educate the Powerful System to once again instruct your elected representatives to repeal REAL ID.

Use your personal comments to object to the new electronic health care records, to the new National Coordinator of Health Information Technology, and to SCREAM POLITELY that you do not want your health care records connected to the REAL ID or monitored by federal bureaucrats.

In addition, consider sending a message to repeal the Transportation Worker Identification Card. Since the federal government couldn’t rope all of us into their Real ID scheme, they started with people in the marine, rail, and land transport industries. They’re “picking off the herd,” one industry at a time, hoping to eventually rope all of us into their scheme. Use our free Educate the Powerful System to tell Congress to ”reverse course.”

Please educate and recruit other people by sharing this Dispatch with them, and by Digging this message on our blog.

Thank you for being a part of the growing Downsize DC army.

Jim Babka
President
DownsizeDC.org, Inc.

D o w n s i z e r – D i s p a t c h
is the official email list of DownsizeDC.org, Inc. & Downsize DC Foundation

We’ve dicussed the various threats that a national ID card would pose to our civil liberties, mostly with respect to the Real ID Act.  With Obama heading into the White House, the Democrat-heavy Congress has been busy introducing 350 new bills, one of which is a secure Social Security card (as reported by Jim Harper at the Cato Institute. Isn’t the Real ID bad enough?

I’ve long held that just about every U.S. President and U.S. Congressman deserve to be hanged (or at least some sort of punishment) for violating their oaths of office.

Upon entering office, U.S. Presidents must pledge:

I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will faithfully execute the office of President of the United States, and will to the best of my ability, preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States.

Similarly, members of the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives must affirm:

I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; that I take this obligation freely, without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion; and that I will well and faithfully discharge the duties of the office on which I am about to enter: So help me God.

If our public servants aren’t held to their oaths, then the oaths are rendered meaningless.

In similar fashion, Bruce Fein has opined in the San Francisco Chronicle, that the actions of President Bush and Vice President Cheney have violated the Constitution in a variety of ways, and indeed deserve censure.  Here’s a piece of what Fein had to say:

By wielding the threat of international terrorism, the Bush-Cheney team put the nation on a permanent war footing – the first time in history that war has been undertaken against a tactic. They maintained that the entire post-9/11 world is an active battlefield where United States military force may be used to kill suspected members of al Qaeda irrespective of international boundaries.

They claimed executive privilege and state secrets to conduct secret government – thereby circumventing political and legal accountability. This included directives to former White House officials Karl Rove and Harriet Miers to flout congressional subpoenas for testimony. They detained hundreds of people (including American citizens) as enemy combatants without accusation or trial. They authorized torture (waterboarding and extraordinary rendition), abductions, secret prisons and illegal surveillance of American citizens.

Like its immediate predecessors, the 110th Congress eagerly yielded its authorities – even the power of the purse – to the president. The Iraqi War Resolution, the $700 billion Troubled Asset Relief Act, the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act amendments, and the declination to hold Rove in contempt of Congress were emblematic.

If left unrebuked, the Bush-Cheney usurpations of power will become part of the constitutional firmament and risk creating a safe harbor for future presidential abuses. Every member of Congress, moreover, is required to take an oath to “support (the) Constitution” pursuant to Article VI. There is no corresponding oath to support the Republican or Democratic parties or to subordinate the Constitution in the name of political harmony. Censure would be no novelty.

Read the whole article.

D o w n s i z e r – D i s p a t c h

Quote of the Day: “It is a tale told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, signifying nothing.” — William Shakespeare

Subject: Not your usual post-election commentary

The media describes every election as historic, the most important in a generation, etc. When the voting is done they tell us a new era has dawned, that things will change, that nothing will ever be the same, blah, blah, blah.

One aspect of these claims is true, this time. It is both historic and meaningful that the United States has elected its first African-American president. We applaud and celebrate this. We think the significance of this event transcends mere symbolism. Otherwise, the election was what all other elections have been . . .

” . . . a tale told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, signifying nothing.”

Can we support this harsh assessment? Consider . . .

The election thoroughly repudiated the Republican Party. They lost the White House in a landslide, and got clobbered in Congressional races. We might assume from this, if elections really produced change, that many Republican policies of the last eight years will be reversed. We predict that almost none of them will be.

The Republicans were responsible for . . .

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