Nobody is Talking About the REAL ID Act, So the Tyranny of a National Database Is Being Quietly Forced Upon Us

Today (May 7) marks the implementation of the REAL ID Act of 2005, and anyone wishing to board a domestic flight or enter a federal building will now be required to present either a passport or this new form of national identification. This new draconian measure moves us one step closer to the federal government monitoring our every single move, and almost nobody is talking about it.

For the last twenty years, states have delayed and resisted the law, suggesting that it was too costly to implement and posed threats to individuals’ privacy, and until 2020, REAL IDs were not even available in all fifty states (even as of mid-April, thirty states were less than 70% compliant with the law). New York, Minnesota, Michigan, Vermont, and Washington have already been issuing “enhanced” licenses that allow travelers to cross into Canada and Mexico by foot, car, or boat; and because of this, citizens of these states may not need further identification for flying domestically (though it is still not completely clear). Regardless, many Americans do not possess a form of identification that meets the new requirements, though as of late April, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has claimed that 81% of all travelers have a form of valid identification under the law (either a passport or some form of identification that is REAL ID compliant). During this week, Americans without the new licenses may be denied the ability to fly, and even if they are permitted to board airplanes, they may face additional delays and security measures (like being searched further than the typical body scanners).

The REAL ID Act was passed at the recommendation of the 9/11 Commission Report’s findings in 2004 that the hijackers were able to obtain state licenses easily and board any airplane because some states’ standards were easy to exploit by showing fraudulent documents. Of course, we have gone twenty-four years without terrorists doing anything of the sort, plus as has been discussed multiple times before, there is ample evidence to suggest that the September 11, 2001 terrorist attack was a false flag incident (with participation from elements within the United States government) as a way to justify doing exactly the types of things that the REAL ID Act would do (see here, here, and here).

Like with many other unconstitutional measures, Congress slipped the REAL ID Act into a broader security bill in order to ensure its passage without debate or worrying about legislators actually reading through the several pages of unrelated items (this was part of the 109^th Congress’ House of Representatives Bill 1268: the Emergency Supplemental Appropriations Act for Defense, the Global War on Terror, and Tsunami Relief). Now, the bureaucrats in Washington, D.C. get to force the American people to comply with national identification standards without the legislature even caring that the REAL ID provision was even in one of the bills (“you have to pass the bill to see what is in it” mentality). This dereliction of duty on the part on Congress has now taken away even more of the privacy of Americans, and the Constitution does not permit the legislature to delegate its duties to the executive branch’s bureaucratic agencies.

So what? Why do I care about having to show a form of identification that meets national standards? I mean, I am not a terrorist or an illegal immigrant, so I have nothing to worry about. Plus, if it is making the United States more safe and secure, what harm is there? Well, the fact of the matter is that regardless of what government officials and the corporate propaganda claim, the REAL ID Act does indeed create a national identification system, as states must comply with the standards set forth in the law, and this includes private data collection and information sharing. I know, I know, the government and corporations already collect your data and have access to your documents, so what is another system that does the same thing, right? The problem is that more and more databases with Americans’ information means that privacy in the United States has almost vanished. Giving the federal government more control over the monitoring of your daily lives (including a record of when and where you travel) brings us one step closer to a totalitarian hellscape. Intelligence gathering between federal, state, and local law enforcement already exists in the unconstitutional and liberty-violating fusion centers that were established after the 9-11 attack, and with the federal government gaining access to our personal state-held data, this takes this concept even further.

The Uniting and Strengthening America by Providing Appropriate Tools Required to Intercept and Obstruct Terrorism (or USA PATRIOT Act, or simply the Patriot Act) and related legislation immediately following the 9-11 attack allowed the American deep state to implement a full-scale surveillance state by collecting data in bulk, wiretapping us, watering down the concept of warrants in order to listen to our email and telephone conversations (listening in on three hops from a foreign actor without a warrant includes almost every American, secret Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act courts hardly ever turn down warrant requests from federal agents, FISA warrants could be blank and allow the agents to fill in their own information, and local law enforcement could then use those secret and fake warrants to investigate a criminal investigation), collecting metadata without any type of warrant whatsoever, forcing third parties (that Americans use every day) to comply with the releasing of their clients’ information, partnering with corporations to obtain information on citizens, and initiating searches on people based on their online searches or book purchases. Now, we are dealing with yet another surveillance tool for the deep state to be able to use to find out even more information about us.

Moreover, a national identification system runs contrary to the United States Constitution in a few important ways (just as the Patriot Act does). First, this violates the Tenth Amendment, as states have resisted this law and are now being forced to comply with federal standards. The Constitution does not allow for a national database for all Americans, nor a surveillance state by any means, so this totalitarian nightmare is being implemented by the absolute power of the government and not based on the authority delegated to the government by the Constitution and the people.

Every time you go through a Transportation Security Administration (TSA) checkpoint at an airport, the Fourth Amendment is being violated, as your “persons” is being searched without probable cause of a crime or a warrant issued describing why you are to be searched. Plus, the TSA has proven to be ineffective and has failed to find almost all security threats during tests. Furthermore, the REAL ID Act takes your personal information and places it into a federal database, again without probable cause of a crime as the Fourth Amendment demands. The Supreme Court has held that the Fourth Amendment, as well as the First, Third, Fifth, and Ninth Amendments, includes the right to privacy from government snoopers (and data collectors). Yet, here we are giving away more of our rights.

You may have nothing to hide right now (as the argument goes), but what happens when you become too much of a nuisance to the government and speak out more than officials would prefer? The government now has your personal information in a federal database, and it can more easily track you down and arrest you for whatever conceived reason (frame you for a crime?). It may seem farfetched, but just like the United States government flipped a switch after one false flag terrorist attack to establish the surveillance state that we currently reside under, we are only one incident away from dissenters being rounded up for speech (if you are familiar with my writings, you will know the precedents for this have already been set).

It is interesting that the federal government chose to implement this law under the presidency of Donald Trump, and do you think that this was by accident? Many of those who would have vehemently opposed implementing a national identification system under a Democratic president have been pacified and would never think to challenge any of the actions of a man who cannot be touched (in their minds). Because of this, most Trump supporters have remained quiet and let the totalitarians win, and Democrats have not made much of an issue of it either. As I have said before, whenever you have bipartisan support for something, it generally means that Americans are in the process of having their rights stolen from them by the elites who use either or both parties to enact their agendas.

Americans have been conditioned to believe that there is absolutely nothing that can be done to stop tyranny, and of course, our founding fathers faced similar challenges but overcame them out of necessity. Just like the British Empire was the most powerful nation on earth at that time and had a powerful military and surveillance state and could have landed anyone in jail that it wanted, Americans are up against the most powerful nation state in human history (that we are aware of, and at least of those that the written textbooks approved by the elites have included for us to learn about). Will we quietly comply with the REAL ID system, or will we stand up to it, even if it means being prevented from flying or subject to arrest? The choice is ours.

Thank you for reading, and please check out my book, The Global Bully, and website.