We need a national ID card
Re “Proving who you are,” editorial, Oct. 7
Our Social Security numbers were originally meant for one thing only: as a taxpayer identification between us and the Internal Revenue Service. Our driver’s licenses were meant only as a license to drive. But in the absence of a single-source, uniformed-criteria national ID, we have been forced to share these other two forms of ID with just about everyone. One cannot even open a cellphone account without furnishing these items. This is one cause of identity fraud: people using these forms of identification with completely different purposes for activities in our daily lives.
Our problem with voter registration is again because we rely on state-issued ID cards, all of which have different criteria for issuing them. We need a uniform-measured card. Most countries of the world have a national ID card, and they are not facing an Orwellian nightmare. They are required to prove citizenship for government services and, among other things, to vote. So long as its uses are clearly defined, a national ID card for the U.S. would clear up a lot of inconsistencies, cut down on fraud and bring some order to otherwise chaotic ID checks.
Mark Mizrahi
La Jolla
--
Our national security, solving unrestricted illegal immigration and reducing identity theft are dependent on establishing a national ID system. The ID system should be constructed with biometrics such as a digital picture, fingerprints or retina data to prove you are who you say you are. It does not require a link to financial information.
The American Civil Liberties Union objects to profiling when authorities request suspicious people to identify themselves. If all Americans and legal visitors had to carry tamper-proof identification, then the profiling issue becomes moot. Why is requesting a picture ID to vote more of an issue than requesting an ID to use a charge card or write a check?
Honest people are not afraid to identify themselves. Only those with something to hide, such as an illegal immigrant, a welfare cheat, a person not paying child support or alimony, a sexual predator or a terrorist object to carrying a legitimate, tamper-proof ID.
Jack Gordon
Newhall