NO INTERNAL PASSPORT!

WHEREAS, The Section 656(b) of the Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act authorized the federal Department of Transportation to develop "national standards" for state driver licenses and birth certificates and to deny to any American citizen basic rights if he or she could not produce a National ID card; and

WHEREAS, The Department of Transportation relegated this responsibility to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, which agency, on June 17, 1998, revealed its specific "national standards" mandating the use of one's Social Security Account Number as the driver-license number as well as one or more "biometric identifiers" such as fingerprints, retina scans, DNA mapping, or voice print, either on a magnetic strip or integrated circuit; and

WHEREAS, Some states, in attempts to comply with the "national standards," have required other personal information about their citizens, such as medical records, driving records, and even ATM access codes, all to be stored on the magnetic strip or integrated circuit; and

WHEREAS, Any U.S. citizen who refused to relinquish such highly personal information to the government by October 1, 2000, would be prohibited from driving a vehicle, purchasing firearms, getting a job, boarding a commercial flight, voting, entering a hospital emergency room or school, consulting a doctor, purchasing insurance, receiving any federal benefits such as Medicare or Medicaid, obtaining a student loan, cashing a check, opening a bank or investment account, or undertaking hundreds of other activities taken for granted in a free society; and

WHEREAS, As Agneta Breitenstein, director of the Health Law Institute, stated, "There are three things that are always true when registries are created: One, there will always be more information collected than is needed to complete the task; two, it will always be kept longer than we are told; and, three, it will always be used for purposes other than intended"; and

WHEREAS, Congress has no authority under the U.S. Constitution to force the states to comply with regulations issued by the federal government, as was witnessed with the U.S. Supreme Court's opinion on the Brady bill and in its opinion in New York v. United States: "If a federal interest is sufficiently strong to cause Congress to legislate, it must do so directly; it may not conscript state governments as its agents"; and

WHEREAS, Every non-governmental sector and overwhelming majorities of the American people (as high as 90%) have opposed a National ID card for the past five decades; and

WHEREAS, The 1998 Republican Party of Texas Platform states, "The Bill of Rights of the U.S. Constitution guarantees the right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects against unreasonable searches and seizures and that this right shall not be violated. The Party directs that legislation be introduced in both the U.S. Congress and the state of Texas to end the ever increasing, incessant, recurring, and calculated gathering, accumulation, and dissemination of finger prints, Social Security numbers, financial, and personal information of law abiding citizens by business and governments for uses that are contrary to and destructive of our individual and collective freedom"; now, therefore, be it

Resolved, That the Republican Party of Texas adamantly opposes any attempt to establish a National ID card and supports the Freedom and Privacy Restoration Act of 1998, sponsored by Texas Representative Ron Paul and Georgia Representative Bob Barr, which act will repeal the enabling legislation for the National ID card.

Pete Wrench
Former SREC
Senate District 8

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