In 2005, the U.S. Congress passed the Real ID Act.  Officially designed to fight terrorism, the act imposes federal standards on the individual states with regard to legally recognized identification of citizens.  The Real ID Act requires states to make "tamper-proof" cards that are machine-readable – via bar code or smart card or RFID chip – and personal information will be maintained in a federally accessed database.  In other words, we are to be chipped like a pet and tracked at the federal government's pleasure.

It was a terribly Orwellian scheme from the beginning.

Despite all that, the DHS final rule relaxes the requirements on documentation, making it possible for states that are in compliance with the regulation (such as terrorist-riddled Florida) to accept dubious proof of identity and citizenship.  Thus, it is possible for an illegal alien to get a Real ID-compliant card.  In short, while all Americans are forced to accept being numbered like a textile product and followed by Big Brother, those who actually break the rules are largely exempted from them.

According to the Department of Homeland Security:

Secure driver's licenses and identification documents are a vital component of a holistic national security strategy. Law enforcement must be able to rely on government-issued identification documents and know that the bearer of such a document is who he or she claims to be. REAL ID is a coordinated effort by the states and the Federal Government to improve the reliability and accuracy of state-issued identification documents, which should inhibit terrorists' ability to evade detection by using fraudulent identification.

And yet we have  illegal aliens in numerous states granted driver's  licenses on a regular basis – even in Real ID-compliant areas.  We still have massive vote fraud despite this.  Why?

There are criticisms of Real ID for violating the 10th Amendment and violating the First (based upon the fact that the right to assemble or petition the government as citizens without such an ID would not be allowed on government property).  One must also question the huge database that this establishes; if it was such a crisis that the DNC was hacked by a foreign entity, why are we even thinking about putting everyone's information in a database?  Is that any safer than the DNC?  Than federal employees' data, which was hacked a while back?  Oh, and it should be pointed out that the implementation of the Real ID Act has done nothing to advance border security or to make voting more secure; you don't even need identification to vote these days. 

So what is the value of this?  It is almost exclusively a tool for government surveillance of the American people.

That's what makes this so puzzling.  Under duress from the federal government, Missouri – one of the last holdouts in implementing the "I've got my eyes on you" act – is wilting as badly as Hillary Clinton's election day results.  The Republican-controlled House has approved a bill to impose Real ID on  the Show Me State (or is it the We'll Show You State now?).  Missouri's Republican governor, Eric Greitens, has contacted the Trump administration and asked for a reprieve from the execution of the federal final solution, but a number of lawmakers won't wait.  According to the KC Star article:

Several of the bill's critics latched onto the governor's comments, saying the state need not pass the bill until the new president has had time to act.

But Corlew said the House vote had been delayed for a month to give the federal government time to act. It hasn't, he said, and there is no indication that Trump will ever call for changing the law.

"None of our congressional leaders have told us anything to suggest there is any movement on the Real ID issue," he said. "I can't find that Donald Trump in a public setting has ever even discussed the Real ID Act."

Sen. Ryan Silvey, a Kansas City Republican, said it would be foolish to wait for the federal government to act.

It appears that this is not just because DHS cracked the whip (and is threatening to stop Mo. citizens from flying on planes and whatnot); Missouri has been taking grant money from DHS precisely to implement the program that was banned "in whole or in part" in the state just 8 years ago.  Interestingly enough, the Missouri Department of Motor Vehicles attempted to collect data on gun ownership from license applicants in compliance with Real ID and in violation of state law.  They were getting ready.

Missouri law is quite clear on the subject, and yet there were efforts being taken under former Governor Jay Nixon (D-lost somewhere) to use this act as a backdoor gun registration, in direct violation of state law.  And the State Highway Patrol admitted to handing over a list of concealed carry permit holders to the Feds, no doubt collected by the License Bureaus in compliance with Real ID.

Missourians want to be protected from terrorism, but we do not want to become permanent suspects in the process.  The way this so-called war has been fought has been essentially to force American citizens to prove their innocence rather than for law enforcement to seek out the guilty.  There seems to be more concern for the rights of radicals and immigrants and alien colonists than for the rights of America's own people.  There are tried and true methods for dealing with spies and saboteurs, but what is being done is a radical departure from traditional, time-tested ways to deal with the problem, and that is because of a culture of political correctness and a lust for power in government circles.  Real ID steals a fundamental right of Americans to be left alone and remain anonymous.  We can no longer be said to be secure in our persons or papers and effects.

If this last election taught us anything, it is that the American people do not want business as usual.  The enforcement of Real ID was an Obama-era scheme – one that a great many Americans do not want.  We now have a Republican president, House, Senate, governor, Mo. state House, and Mo. Senate, and still we are having this rammed down our throats!  What, pray tell, didn't the political class understand?  This last election was about change.  We are tired of being treated like subjects rather than citizens, and seeing our leaders kowtow to aliens and special interests.

The most heinous tyranny, history's most terrible atrocities, were not born full grown, but rather came about from "good ideas" like this.  Tyranny starts as a small growth that metastasizes until it kills the host.  It is important to remember that.

One final thought from James Madison: "Since the general civilization of mankind, I believe there are more instances of the abridgment of freedoms of people by gradual and silent encroachment of those in power than by violent and sudden usurpations."

Read more from Tim and friends at The Aviary www.tbirdnow.mee.nu.