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Thu, 24 Jan 2008

Required Identification

Starting the first of February, the Federal Government will be requiring proof of citizenship to enter the United States. I have a feeling that the idiots who enacted this law have never been to Northern New York, where I live. First, the vast majority of the northern border of New York State is (if you've ever seen a map) (which I doubt some of these idiots have) water. Thus, there are an infinite number of points one might use to enter the United States from Canada.

Okay, so only checking at border stations is completely useless. But let's say that they want to waste our time and their time getting people's names. What does a person's name tell you unless you know something about that person? Everybody knows about the stupid no-fly list, and all the false positives it generates for octogenarians and pre-pubescents.

The real problem is that the border checks won't be effective. In order to catch all the evil people who want to come to America, work, and spend money, you can't stop checking at the border. Around here, the "border" doesn't really exist. So to catch these bad people, you must check for id internally.

Can anybody say "papers, please?"

I thought we lived in a free country?

And indeed, we do. The Constitution has no language which permits the Federal Government to restrict entry into the United States. None. You can't even justify it under the Commerce Clause.

Call your U.S. Congressmen and Senators and demand that they stop violating the Constitution. The Constitution is just a piece of paper unless we hold their feet to the fire.

posted at: 17:31 | path: /economics | permanent link to this entry

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