bsdbigot's Journal: Thought Police

This post will undoubtedly be the start of many posts; I expect that as I codify these thoughts I'm having that they will develop further. You have been warned.

An employee of mine, today, mentioned how she was carded to purchase a lottery ticket. The requisite age is 18. She's 34. That, of course, gets me thinking about booze and tobacco. As a person that occasionally partakes of both, I find it very odd that I get carded for tobacco (18 requisite) pretty much every time, but I get carded for alcohol (21 requisite) almost never. I'm 31.

Anyways, the thought, theory, commentary, whatever that I have about these positive identification laws is this: in almost every case, the law has served to replace common sense with something the government says (papers, please).

Now, I'm not going to argue the benefits of not selling "controlled" substances to minors; that is not the point, so if you want to discuss that then take a hike. I just find it interesting that 9 times out of ten, when I ask the clerk to take just, I dunno, a wild guess at my age, they always come up with something between 28 and 35. 8 times in 10, they say 30. Which is pretty interesting, considering the big red badge they wear saying "We ID under 30." Well, dipshit, you ID over 30, too. You do it because your own judgement, the evidence of your senses, has been deemed illegal. Welcome to the USA.

My wife thinks that I'm harassing these poor minimum-wage boobs, and she gives me a hard time whenever I relate my latest "I made them guess," anecdote. The truth is, I'm trying to help them; I'm not trying to make them criminals and I'm not trying to get them fired. I'm trying to help them use their brains.

Now, follow me a little further with a news item you're about to hear a whole bunch more about; National ID cards. Yes, they've been shot down, many times, as too Orwellian. But, this issue keeps coming back, again and again. I personally don't know anyone that's for it; that's weird for me because I have friends and family on both sides of the Aisle, and politics is a favorite topic of mine (being a Libertarian). The latest incarnation, one that is gaining considerable momentum and I expect to see passed during the 2005 legislative cycle, is the Standardized Driver Licenses.

This is going to be a problem for precisely the same reason why it's a good idea. Someone that is charged with obtaining positive identification for purchases, or entrance to a club, or a movie, or a Nation, right now still enjoys some occasional brain cell usage - they have discretion that is exercised whenever they come across an out-of-state license, or a military ID, or some other ID that is out-of-the-norm. They stop and take a little more caution, and try to be a little bit more sure of what it is they are looking at. If we, being security minded people, are lucky, this heightened awareness even lasts for a few more ID checks before it dissipates. Now, imagine removing those little moments that break the monotony. Seems like a big breach, to me. Seems like it just became that much easier to surreptitiously "attack" the system, even if it's just to see the latest blood-and-gore flick.

Now, take states like California, where it is apparently blindingly easy for a pinga mojada just up from Baja to get a Driver License (and all the rights of a US citizen). Add to that the standardized cards and a workforce who doesn't have the right to make a judgement call, and you've got a major recipe for disaster. It's scary how this stuff works out, no?