It’s striking how worked up people are getting over this potential legislation setting minimum standards for granting photo drivers licenses.

A proposal to stop potential terrorists from getting a U.S. driver’s license may turn the licenses into a national ID card or help the government track gun purchases, opponents fear.

Conservatives, civil libertarians, gun owners and others share such concerns about a House-passed bill that broadly rewrites the rules for licenses and is portrayed as an anti-terrorism tool.

Notice how the AP states the bill is “portrayed” as an anti-terrorism tool, as if the legislation really isn’t intended for that purpose at all, and/or would not help fight terrorism. I suppose it’s too much to ask for the AP to stop editorializing in their wire reports, and remain objective.

But, what would be wrong with a national ID card anyway? We already use driver’s licenses and Social Security cards for identification purposes. There’s no good reason why we shouldn’t have a national photo ID that has sufficient minimum standards to be trustworthy.

There are several states where you can get a driver’s license using a fake name and fake address. Since driver’s licenses are the standard identifrication used to board a plane, rent a car, open a bank account etc. this creates a definite security risk. We know that several 9/11 hijackers had fake driver’s licenses from those states that allowed them to board the planes they hijacked. There should be little doubt that this bill would help reduce terrroirism. Such an ID would also be very useful for preventing election fraud.

These opponents say the measure, passed by a 261-161 vote last month and supported by the White House, even could make it possible for the government to monitor people’s movements in the country through a chip in a license.

“Supporters of this don’t seem to have the ability to look beyond how this system they are putting in place can change. They can’t see how it can metamorphose into a national ID card,” said Steve Lilienthal, director of the Free Congress Foundation Center for Privacy & Technology.

So we shouldn’t pass a sensible piece of legislation because a bunch of paranoids who’ve been watching too many X Files reruns on television think it could potentially “metamorphose” into a way of tracking people? Why aren’t they worried about our existing driver’s licenses and Social Security cards being used for the same purpose? Wake up and smell the Valium guys. Let’s worry about these things if our Congress actually starts talking about them, which they will not.

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