The Mark of the Beast

A little known, but insidious infringement of the Fourth Amendment, is the REAL ID scam.  The REAL ID Act became effective nationwide on May 11, 2008, and the State of Florida began issuing REAL ID compliant credentials after January 1, 2010. It requires anyone renewing or obtaining a drivers license to provide US issued identification - passports, birth certificates and the like -  as well as to submit to facial recognition photographs.  For this, you get a star in the upper right hand corner of your license, which is evidence of your compliance with Department of Homeland Security and your name forever stored in the DHS national database, I suppose.

Ostensibly REAL ID is a nationwide effort to improve the integrity and security of State-issued driver licenses and identification cards, which in turn will help fight terrorism and reduce identity fraud.  But in fact, Adrian Wyllie, Libertarian candidate for Florida Governor, said your photograph is no longer just a photograph. “It is a digital facial image capture that maps the bio-metric markers of your face through facial recognition software,” he said.  And this photo and and all your personal information will be contained in a national database.  Now we know why we need those red light cameras, and those cameras mounted on buildings everywhere.  To stop terrorism.  Right.

The Fourth Amendment of the United States Constitution states:
The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.

And Article 1, Section 12 of the Florida Constitution states:

The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers and effects against unreasonable searches and seizures, and against the unreasonable interception of private communications by any means, shall not be violated. No warrant shall be issued except upon probable cause, supported by affidavit, particularly describing the place or places to be searched, the person or persons, thing or things to be seized, the communication to be intercepted, and the nature of evidence to be obtained. This right shall be construed in conformity with the 4th Amendment to the United States Constitution, as interpreted by the United States Supreme Court. Articles or information obtained in violation of this right shall not be admissible in evidence if such articles or information would be inadmissible under decisions of the United States Supreme Court construing the 4th Amendment to the United States Constitution.

It seems clear that REAL ID, red light cameras, arbitrary arrests, surveillance of digital communications or censorship for utterance of free speech, and so many other encroachments of our personal liberties are all blatant and unlawful violations of this amendment.  There is no legal basis for this tyranny that permeates our lives today.  The Patriot Act under George W. Bush opened the door for this abomination of liberty, and the Kenyan's administration has certainly taken it to draconian levels.

When the idea of a federal standardized identification for Americans was first contemplated in 1991, then President Ronald W. Reagan’s reaction was, “By God, that is the mark of the beast.” 

He was right, of course, as always.