::Updated::
It was April 12, 1861 when South Carolinians fired the first shots on Union Troops at Fort Sumter in the Charleston Harbor, initiating the civil war that for all intents and purpose was Jeffersonian States Rights versus Hamiltonian Federalism the main "state right" of course being the right of a slave owners to maintain a peculiar system of slavery. Four years later Federalism won out, both literally as the South was defeated and ideologically.
Fast forward 147 years and South Carolina's Low Country Governor is attempting to resurrect the notion that one of our state's has the right to stand up against the Federal Government - this time it's not about African Slaves, but about the Federal Real ID program. From Wikipedia:
Driver's licenses issued by states which do not file a waiver indicating intent to comply with the new standards will not be valid for air travel or to enter federal buildings starting May 11, 2008.
So what will be required of South Carolina's Citizens if when the extension request period lapses? Well we'll have to carry around our passports, even if we want to fly from Columbia to Charlotte NC and back. It could mean that we'd need our passports when driving through other states as well to validate our SC Drivers license. Essentially we'd be (once again) our own little country. What joy, it failed the first time I doubt we'll succeed the 2nd time around.
I suppose one could wonder - back when I was Strom's page in DC, folks in my page class referred to SC as Thurmondia. So what's to stop us from establishing yet another fiefdom in the deep south, especially as Governor Sanford drives us towards abismal failure - Mattheus Mei for emperor!
Two new articles from The State newspaper, one illustrating that the states that are challenging the government may be winning out in the stalemate and a second illustrating how our Governor is seeking advice from the AG on suing the Federal Government over Real ID.
Saturday, March 22, 2008
March 31, 2008
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2 comments:
The real ID act is not in the best interest of this country... If the government is able of figuring out your every interstate movement and every event that you attend to draw some conclusions as to whom you may be interacting and then able to get administrative subpoenas to take anything that they want just because you attended a basketball game at the same time as someone else suspected of being an enemy of the state what type of freedom do we have. "I have nothing to hide, but, I am not comfortable with you looking." If the database was decentralized and not interconnected, then I would be OK. All they need to do is encode a hash on the card that verifies the data on the card is correct. We already have real ID it is called your CC, next time you go to print your boarding pass from the kiosk try using a CC that you did not use to purchase the tickets with... It will retrieve your records in a matter of seconds. The civil war was productive, although far from efficient. We are a bunch of states unionized under what was supposed to be a weak centralized government. "if you don;t have anythign to hide then you won't mind us looking" "If I do not have anything to hide then you do not need to look" Sorry to go off on you, I believe the real ID act will be as effective as gun control. The criminals will find a way around the laws and the noncriminal will be inconvenienced by them.
~Sean
Didn't we discuss this the other night? (GRIN).
Regarding to Sean...
Yes - CC do track our every move. But they are not an ID. Maybe they can be come one in the future.
Weak centralized gov't??? Do we not understand the principals of Hamilton? How can a flexible interpretation of the Constitution and using the federal government to build a strong economy and military be done under a weak centralized gov't.
That almost screams the ideals of Jefferson. Weak central gov't in favor of strong states. There are also strict interpertation of the Constitution.
I love a lot of things about my good Virginian T.J., but I can not be a Jeffersonian.
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