RLC opposition to national ID cards.

"To be GOVERNED is to be watched, inspected, spied upon, directed, law-driven, numbered, regulated, enrolled, indoctrinated, preached at, controlled, checked, estimated, valued, censured, commanded, by creatures who have neither the right nor the wisdom nor the virtue to do so. …” – PJ Proudhon.

In Australia we are noticing that the acolytes of the state still have a lingering fascination for having us all registered and issued with an identity card which will have to be produced at any time. The current calls are in the name of orderly immigration, though no explanation is given as to how this will stop the boats arriving.

Dave Nalle from the RLC has produced a press release opposing similar moves in the US:

WASHINGTON, DC — Affirming a long commitment to privacy rights and free enterprise, the Republican Liberty Caucus National Board has joined numerous other pro-liberty organizations in signing a letter in opposition to the "Legal Workforce Act" (HR 2164) and the job-killing and unconstitutional E-Verify system, which it would establish.

"Concerns about immigration and hard economic times should not be used as a pretext for legislating away the rights of the people and transferring the cost of immigration enforcement to small businesses," said RLC Chairman Dave Nalle. "I lived in Russia under Soviet Rule when I was a teenager and remember being required to carry an internal passport and present my papers at government check-points. I do not want my children and my fellow Americans to ever experience that same violation of their privacy and liberty and E-Verify lays the groundwork for exactly that kind of security state."

This bill will create a de facto national ID card system, which would have to apply to citizens as well as immigrants to be effective. It violates the rights to free speech and free association of citizens guaranteed by the Bill of Rights. It will place a huge cost on businesses, raising costs and killing jobs and forcing them to become the government's immigration komissars. It opens the door to further legislation which will take away more liberty and hurt small businesses most of all.

"If the federal government is incapable of tracking the immigrant workforce and enforcing the terms of the visas it issues, that problem can't be solved by transferring that burden and cost to employers," observed RLC National Board member Bill Westmiller. "Rather than following failed policies with bad law, the government's goal should be to reform the laws to make them conform with modern reality; make them clear, simple and easily enforced. Walls, armed guards and spies in the workplace can't make a bad set of laws good."

"As a nation our needs are best served by market-based solutions to dealing with immigration. Free labor makes the economy stronger and this sort of draconian legislation will drive more workers off the books and out of the tax rolls, expanding the employment black market and leading to crime and exploitation," said Chairman Nalle. "Since 9/11 we have seen too many attacks on our rights in the name of security and economic expediency. We have seen the Bill of Rights shredded and now Congress plans to make another assault on the frst and fourth amendments. This cannot be tolerated."

Working with other concerned groups the Republican Liberty Caucus will be calling on our state chapters and our nationwide network of grassroots activists to demand that Congress stop this headlong rush into more bureaucracy, bigger government, greater surveillance and less freedom. It is an insult to the founding principles of this nation that this law was ever entered for consideration. It will be a shame if it makes it out of committee and a crime against every citizen if it is not soundly defeated on the floor.

The Republican Liberty Caucus is a nationwide grassroots organization which promotes individual liberty and limited government within the Republican Party. You can find more information about the Republican Liberty Caucus at www.rlc.org

To view the coalition letter against E-Verify go here.