That little plastic laminated card you’ve got in your wallet or
purse — you know, the state’s permission slip for operating a
motor vehicle? Ever stop to reflect how peripheral the
driving part of a driver’s license is?
Because, of course, a driver’s license is in fact our
national ID card.
It’s extremely hard to function in modern society without
this national ID card — even if you never get behind the wheel of
an automobile. You can’t open a bank account, cash a check, visit
the doctor, vote, board an airplane or even get a job without
one.
Or at least, it is very difficult to do these things
without one.
And none of these things, as such, have anything to do
with the operation of a motor vehicle.
If it were merely a driver’s license, the main
issue would be whether we’re sufficiently competent to get behind
the wheel. There would be a meaningful test of one’s ability to
handle a car. An actual road test on an actual road, in
traffic — not the perfunctory drive around the cones in
the DMV parking lot (and even that is only required of
new/first-time applicants in most states) preceded by a
sixth-grade-level written (well, touch-screen video) test
of one’s knowledge of The Law.
A medium-smart baboon could pass this test with a little
coaching. Few ever fail it — baboons or otherwise. Most of us
snicker at the absurdity of it. But it is only absurd from the
perspective that assumes they are testing our ability to
drive.
Rather, the object of the exercise is ascertaining our
identity — in order that we may be kept track of via the
interlocking system of data acquisition, indexing, recording and
cross-referencing that is the Matrix of modern society.
It is about information — and control.
If it were not, “driver’s licenses” would not be linked to
one’s Social Security number — the government-issued ear tag every
calf (oops, citizen) is issued at birth. The SS number, in
turn, is the number the government uses to make sure you pay your
taxes, to keep track of where you work (and how much you earn),
where you bank (and how much you have in the bank), where
you live, whom you marry, whether you have children (each of them
to be issued their own ear tag in turn) and so on — all of which,
again, have nothing to do with your competence as a
driver.
But just try to get a “driver’s license” without
presenting your Social Security card.
They will also likely want your birth certificate, a
document (with your SS number) from your bank, or your mortgage
holder, or something along those lines. Then, just to be sure, they
will obtain “biometric” information — a fingerprint in some cases
or merely a special photo that maps your face so that the
Panopticon
(those cameras that are increasingly everywhere) can register
your presence and record your presence wherever you happen
to be — which most of the time, of course, will be somewhere
that’s not in your car.
I go too far?
Then consider the fact that even non-drivers must
obtain what amounts to the same national ID card in order to be
able to do the things mentioned up above. They must show up at the
Department of Motor Vehicles and provide the same
items — SS number and other documents confirming that number. They
will then be biometrically catalogued, just like the other cows
(er, “drivers”).
No one escapes the national ID card unless they are “off
the grid” — a person who exists outside the system, as a de
facto (if not de jure) outlaw.
Too far again, you say?
Then try to cross the border, or board an airplane without
your national ID card — or (lately) even attend a professional
football game.
Your ID will be demanded.
Even a person merely walking down the street, having
committed no crime, can be compelled to produce his ID.
And if that person lacks an ID, that person will very likely be
arrested on the spot and held until his identity is
ascertained.
This is the reality of Homeland America.
You must have permission to move. You do not move
freely.
Even if you are walking.
