The controversial Real ID officially goes into effect today. It marks the end of a process that began 20 years ago as a national security response to the September 11 terrorist attacks. For the most part, it went unnoticed over the years until citizens began to panic about the approaching deadline to switch to a Real ID. Critics have blasted it, hysterically labeling it as a privacy threat, government overreach, and other senseless paranoias. While it isn’t any of those things, it is an example of a stupid decision from a bloated, inefficient bureaucracy.
Think about this: It took less time for President Donald Trump to go from game show host to president of the United States than it did for a government-mandated security measure, deemed necessary to help prevent terrorist attacks, to be implemented. If that’s not emblematic of some of our elected officials’ foolish decisions, then what is?
Consider the facts.
First, as the Washington Examiner previously reported, the legislation that created the Real ID was originally passed in May 2005. The Real ID Act was the product of a recommendation from the 9/11 Commission Report, which was published on July 22, 2004, nearly three years after the attack. The report revealed how the terrorists used counterfeit documents to board planes and travel in the U.S. The committee suggested establishing uniform standards for identification materials, such as driver’s licenses, to remedy these security vulnerabilities.
Nearly 21 years after it was first suggested in the 9/11 Commission Report (almost 24 years after the 9/11 terrorist attacks), it goes into effect — 21 years! If anyone needs a reference of how long ago this was, when REAL ID was first recommended, the first social media platform, MySpace, was less than one year old. Facebook had been around for less than six months, and Twitter was two years away from being released.
Additionally, people still had something called landline phones. A quarterback for the New England Patriots named Tom Brady had just won his third Super Bowl, defeating the Philadelphia Eagles about five months earlier. Netflix was three years from being launched, and its business model was predicated on mailing DVDs to consumers for rent. The preeminent internet messaging service at the time was AOL Instant Messenger. People had to repeatedly press tangible, numeric keys on their cellphones to send text messages, and the first iPhone hadn’t even begun development yet and was three years away from being released. Donald Trump’s The Apprentice had debuted less than six months prior.
Besides being shameful and comical that it took this long, the most logical question here is that if REAL IDs were so necessary to prevent devastating terrorist attacks, why did it take over two decades to implement? Moreover, since there haven’t been any disastrous terrorist attacks in those two decades, wouldn’t that prove Real IDs aren’t necessary? What’s the legitimate justification at this point if it has taken 20 years to implement and (fortunately) there haven’t been any other major terrorist attacks?
A competent government would realize they’re unnecessary and the 9/11 committee was wrong. But our country has regressively evolved into a bureaucratic nightmare, where bloated committees push for even more government and implement needless and pointless legislation without ever adjusting for changes or admitting mistakes or faults. There’s legitimately no reason Real IDs are currently needed.
MILLIONS DO NOT HAVE A REAL ID. HERE’S WHAT TO KNOW BEFORE THE MAY DEADLINE
Last but certainly not least, there is a fee to get a Real ID. After taking two decades to implement and forcing people to switch to an identity document that, time has demonstrated, is no longer needed, the government is forcing people to pay a fee to switch. It is not just a regular payment charged for a driver’s license renewal. There is a separate fee for the Real ID.
The government forces citizens to obtain a needless document and then charges them for it. These are foolish acts by a bloated, incompetent, and inefficient bureaucracy. Real IDs are now the law, but it doesn’t make forcing people to get them a valid pursuit. One could legitimately argue it is a government fee-collecting scam that rips citizens off by charging needless fees for a pointless document. It’s indicative of everything wrong with our federal government and how it hampers our constitutional republic.