Away from my obvious trolling and on the serious note.. How much truth this quote from 1775 (I think?) holds today.. Quite contemporary, I believe.
When does it become okay to lose liberties for the sake of safety? ie: I like to drive a car but I can't unless i register it and/or get a license...is that a step too far? I like to drive at 150kms but I can't without getting a huge fine or being thrown in jail....is that a step too far? I like to build stuff but I can't build a house unless i register my plans and/or get an approval that costs heaps...is that a step too far? I like a bazooka but I need a license...is that... We're being held back by all sorts, at what point 'should' it become a problem? When 300 people are running the risk of flying together?
@Rebecca The reason why i'm saying that a iron clad National ID would be awesome is that it costs very little to implement and it offers a very very high level of security against identity theft , make it impossible to be a illegal immigrant and it would also make the security checks very easy . In Romania we had this system for quite some time and identity theft (even digital) is next to inexistent and most security checks are a breeze . The whole process costs the citizen just 10 USD . The ID is compulsory and you're required to have it all the time . One easy way to secure a transaction is to leave the ID card as a guarantee , so far this never failed for me . As for the loss of liberty it's virtually inexistent from my point of view .
I think our liberties can slowly be chipped away, and we should try to be mindful of this. We're not all exactly alike in how we weigh in on liberty vs. security, but I do believe that most of us are well-intentioned. At the end of the day, we as a society, will have the level of liberty and security that we deserve. Ha Ha, Apocalypse. You sound like a National ID salesmen. But, the credit industry can offer paid services to safeguard against identity theft. As far as illegal immigrants, I think we have at least 12 million already, and are only deporting ones convicted of serious crimes. Security checks, as in traveling, I guess we already have that well-covered, and a National ID would just be over-kill.