The U.S. rulers have been trying to institute some form of mandatory identification card for more than two decades. Two efforts to institute a federal ID card, one by the administration of President Ronald Reagan in 1981 and another in 1986, were shelved due to widespread opposition among working people and others. In 1994 President William Clinton signed off on a national ID card recommended to him by a commission on immigration reform.

Among the other reactionary provisions of the 1996 Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act, passed with bipartisan support in Congress under Clinton, was a measure requiring the Department of Transportation to issue regulations that would mandate every state to place a driver's Social Security number on the license or other identification cards issued by the state.

Several states had already begun linking drivers' licenses to federal databases. Georgia legislators passed a law requiring digitized fingerprints on all state drivers' licenses and IDs. Oregon and Alabama took similar actions. Some politicians want to go further. Sen. Dianne Feinstein, a liberal Democrat from California, is an advocate of "biometric" security checks, such as fingerprint, retina scan, or voice print, integrated into the driver's license.

Resistance to the drift toward a national ID card came from various quarters. In a 1996 New York Times opinion piece, Robert Smith wrote, "Don't we remember the Nazi experience in Europe, where identity documents listing religion and ethnic background facilitated the roundup of Jews? Don't we remember how we condemned South Africa in the 1970's and 80's for using a domestic passport to limit the movements of certain citizens but not others?"

In a July 1999 press release opposing the "creeping federalization of state-issued driver's licenses," ACLU Legislative Counsel Gregory Nojeim said, "National ID card proposals pose one of the greatest threats to personal privacy in the United States today. If mandated by Congress for one purpose, we know from experience that a national ID card would eventually be required for engaging in even the most routine transactions--from opening a bank account to boarding an airplane to entering a building."

House Majority Leader Richard Armey, a Texas Republican, said, "A national driver's license with 'biometric identifiers' or social security numbers is more suited to a police state than to a free country." In October 1999, responding to opposition, Congress repealed the section of the 1996 law that calls for uniform national drivers' license standards.

The construction of the national database linked to the Social Security number continues, however. Currently 29 states use the Social Security number as the drivers' license number or display it on the license.
 
 
Related article:
Workers' rights vs. ID card  
 
 
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