A REAL ID Reprieve

Well, I managed to "escape" having to have a REAL ID Act ID foisted on me in the near future. No, the State of Indiana didn't halt their race to implement the REAL ID act early...they're still going to force REAL ID Act compliant Drivers Licenses on the people of Indiana years before RID takes effect. I just got lucky by having my license expire this month. After an unusually painless, efficient and short BMV experience I got an Indiana license that will last me for 6 years, granting me a temporary reprieve. Yes, I examined the license carefully under high light. No chips and no magnetic strips are on it, so Digimarc hasn't managed to get their Smart Chips in the current batch of cards, yet.

The staff at the branch I went to couldn't, (or wouldn't) tell me what they knew about the new licenses that were coming in the Fall. They said that even they were being kept in the dark about the particulars of these RID inspired National ID cards. As nice as the ladies there were, I think they were telling the truth. Their "superiors" are keeping them in the dark about the new cards that the people of Indiana will be forced to carry and they're doing so deliberately. It's a subject that is not being discussed and in some quarters is being soundly ignored by people who should be saying something...like my states LP.

The silence and ignorance of this is astounding. I went to an auction this morning and the lady who checks drivers licenses and I got to talking about the REAL ID Act and Indiana's early implementation and she had no idea that this was even coming. She also had no idea that her business would likely have to purchase scanning equipment at some point to stay within the law.

Why the silence? I cannot, for the life of me figure this out. Are Americans so beat down that they just don't give a damn any more? Have they willingly consumed the Statist Flavoured Kool Aid that makes a National ID card palatable? Has getting elected somehow become more important than speaking out about Liberty issues? Or is this somehow acceptable to folks? I don't have answer and I wish I did, because I really need to know why this police state tool is acceptable in America and why people who should know better remain silent.


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Indiana, REAL ID, Libertarian, Digimarc
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