Wasting Time With Alex

Tuesday, April 08, 2008

Illegal Immigration and a National ID system

I was driving into work this morning and listening to a local talk show and the topic being discussed was a national ID card. The people calling in to make their point seemed equally divided over the whole idea. You had your usual privacy advocates that felt it was a given that the government was going to abuse such and ID system, and you had those that felt it would actually despite the privacy problems and potential for abuse be a valuable tool. The most common arguments of the proponents of such an ID system, including the arguments by the host of the program - and they are totally right about this - was that government already had all kinds of information on its citizens, and especially the law abiding ones. If you drive, own a passport, have been married, own a bank account or credit card, pay bills, own a fire arm, and file taxes - all things most law abiding citizens do - there is no way to avoid the government collecting a ton of information about you. And even if you are not such a law abiding citizen, these many and broad requirements for documentation to function in our society make it nigh impossible to hide from government effectively.

So the privacy argument is moot. It still does not do away with the potential for abuse that such a system would give our government, but that is why we have the second amendment. I should add still to that last thought. On the other side such an ID system does have some values, but that is predicated on the system being used to stop certain abuses. But what struck me as ridiculous was the belief held by many proponents of such an ID system that government would do exactly that when it comes to illegal immigration. I am one of the first people to point out that our immigration system is broke and in dire need of fixing. But I am also of the opinion that the people that circumvent it should not be rewarded for their lack of respect for our laws, but punished for doing that. No matter how good their intentions or their efforts after the fact are. The point is that they broke a law, and allowing people to break laws they find inconvenient, leads to nothing but anarchy. But I digress. The issue is how so many believe a national ID system will suddenly make the government care about enforcing immigration laws.

If your argument is that government already is able to collect so much information about its citizens that a national ID system will simply be a minimal step up on the already existing level of intrusion, then please answer me why government is not already able to control illegal immigration? The answer is simple: they do not want to do so. Democrats like the illegals because of many reasons. They help enforce the images of a poverty stricken populous that requires government intervention to address all the evils of society. From lack of insurance and the need for “free healthcare” to every other two bit socialist program intended to make the people dependant on government hand outs can be made more urgently needed when you pad the numbers with illegals living outside the system. While many come here for a crack at the American dream the fact remains many also suck, and suck very hard, at the government’s teat. Often by design. And do not forget the illegal, and often repeat voters, the democrats could not win elections without either.

Republicans love the illegals because it is huge force of cheap labor. A sad but direct response to government’s attempts to regulate the market and doing a terrible job of it. And many of them also see an influx of a few score of million potential workers as the only alternative to shore up a social security system that will soon have way too many people taking out compared to those paying in. Conservatives have given up on their attempts to do away with that SS Ponzi scheme and have settled for prolonging the agony and leaving the though decisions up to someone else down the line. They see that in the near future SS will either end up paying out so little it means nothing, be forced to take such a huge chunk of the income of those still working to stay viable that it basically becomes a disincentive for work, or simply goes belly up. To correct that they are hoping to skew the ratio of those paying in to those collecting back in favor of those paying in for at least a few more decades. Stupid by any kind of logic because what we need is for SS to be killed off and people to get their own way of saving for their retirement if we want to prevent that system from going belly up and leaving one or 2 generations to suffer the consequences on that dependency.

Anyway, back to the national ID system and the lame argument of how it would help enforce or curb illegal immigration. If the government has no incentive to curb illegal immigration right now, and while it has so much information about its citizens already, and turns a blind eye to the entire illegal immigration issue, why do we thing a national ID system will suddenly make them change their minds? Basically the people claming that such a system would be a powerful tool to combat illegal immigration forget that the only reason we do not have a much better response to illegal immigration is that government itself has no desire or reason to enforce the law. Getting such a system will not change that underlying problem. So it is a dumb argument to begin with. it is like the constant lawmaking around gun violence when existing gun laws are not enforced. It is meaningless. Let it go. If your concern is illegal immigration address the problem now by making our government change its mind about enforcing it more rigorously first. Everything else will be a waste of time.