Lawmakers on correct path regarding universal IDs

Published Thursday, April 12, 2007

Although the reasons are financial, rather than philosophical, we are glad that there is a move afoot in the Minnesota Legislature to oppose a national identification card.

The federal government wants states to issue driver’s licenses in a prescribed, universal format. Those driver’s licenses would then serve as a nationwide form of identification, and be required to board airplanes. Although the licenses are a federal requirement, the federal government is, typically, providing states with only a tiny fraction of the financial resources to make the required changes. Thus, some Minnesota lawmakers have wisely proposed a bill opposing the national I.D. rule.

Our objection is not so much to the financial burdens — although we agree they are onerous. Rather, we disagree completely with the notion that Americans should be required to carry identification cards — or papers, or electronic chips, or anything else — in order to go about their business. It would undoubtedly be convenient for the government to track all of its citizens by means of a universal identification system. But there is no proof that such a scheme would truly enhance security and we have our doubts that the cost to liberty would in any case be worth the hoped-for increase in safety.

The Minnesota Legislature should vote to oppose the national I.D. rule.