National ID

This weekend there were at least two major radio talk show hosts discussing this once again; it appears to be imminent, under the auspices of Homeland Security.

Should Christians take a National ID?

Is it a matter of degree?

Many of us take IDs of various kinds - licenses to drive a car, professional licenses for employment, ids for employment.

But this would be a general, overall 'license' to citizenship itself which, technically, if I'm reading the U.S. Consititution right, is a violation or, 'abridgment', of the 14th Amendment which, for citizenship, only requires that we be born here - there is nothing additional required; which would mean all i need is proof of birth here. Requiring an I.D. would be technically an 'abridgement' of this amendment, which specifically declares that such rights are not to be 'abridged'.

Is it a matter of degree - that is, a Christian can allow himself to be so 'identified', up until some invisible line - say, once it becomes biometric - that is, using some body part to identify the person, then that's when to draw the line. Of course, we've been using finger prints, a body part, for some 100 years already - but typically, that was for criminal, or military, reasons only. Of course, they're doing it on school children now.

One other presumption a National I.D. makes is, by definition, a presumption of guilt. B/c a National I.D. is being implemented primarily for security reasons - i.e., to screen out 'undesirables', by implication then, if you don't take it, it will be an automatic presumption of guilt.

A presumption of guilt, to my mind, cuts at the root of all American liberty - that is, 'innocent until proven guilty'.
On the contrary, this will be making one's failure to take the id, as 'proof' of guilt. Or, at least a presumption of guilt.

The whole point of any real 'freedom' in the first place is a minimum of identification.

That's what the Pilgrims, and everyone else fleeing to here, were fleeing from - constantly being 'identified', and harrassed - or worse.

Technically, for me, a National I.D. violates directly the protection of the 14th Amendment and, secondly, violates the general spirit of the whole U.S. Constitution, in the first place, that is, that its citizens are now guilty, until proven innocent - by virtue of a National I.D.

So even if the National I.D., is not biometric- that is, connected to some body part, it still even then would be a violation of my own Constitutional liberties, for citizenship, as I see it.