So who’s heard of the REAL ID Act of 2005? Because up until a few weeks ago, I sure as heck hadn't.

What if I were to tell you that in as little as 2 years, we’re all going to have to trade in our state-issued driver’s licenses for what is essentially a national ID card? Sounds kind of sudden doesn’t it? You’d think we would have heard more about it on the news or in the paper. Yet here we are, coming up on the new law’s first anniversary in May.

For those unaware of the REAL ID Act (which I’m assuming is a majority of you), it was signed into law on May 11, 2005. Basically, it says that in two years (i.e. May 11, 2008) if a driver’s license is to be used for identification purposes, it must meet a set of standards set forth by the Department of Homeland Security. These standards include such common identifiers like full name, signature, address, and a photograph, but the new law also states that they must all have some kind of unified, machine-readable technology. Although exactly what this technology will be hasn’t been decided, the Department of Homeland Security’s vocal support for RFID (radio frequency identification) seems to almost guarantee what to expect.

But even more frightening is the sharing of state databases that the law will require. Frankly, I can’t see the how linking state driver databases would help deter terrorism as expected. Considering no amount of identification could ever determine evil intent and that any terrorist determined enough will have a way to get his hands on a forgery, I don't see the point in such a system.

And I won’t even get into the possibilities for identity theft associated with a linked and centralized database. Talk about putting all of your eggs into one basket, though.

But you know what? All RFID and conspiracy theory aside, what really bothers me about the REAL ID Act (well, besides the fact that it pretty much passed into law without a second thought) is the more immediate effects it will have on the American citizen. I won’t claim to be some kind of economist, but the system that will need to be set up in order to issue the licenses and then manage the linking of databases must be huge. And I can only imagine the tax and fee increases that will be needed in order to pay for it. Considering Minnesota just remade our license last year, the whole thing seems a bit silly to me.

Even more bothersome than the financial burden this new law creates, and what I find the most frightening of all, is that the bureaucracy of the federal government is about the get a lot bigger. You want to talk about the downfall of western civilization, look no further than a stand in line, wait your turn, red tape, rules for the sake of having rules bureaucracy.

Even though the REAL ID Act of 2005 didn’t receive much press when it was signed in last year, I think we can expect much more discussion when the time comes and it’s up to the states to implement it. Until then, I’m going to do whatever I can to try and get this thing rejected. Because of it all goes through, we walk a slippery slope, indeed.

You can check out the exact wording of the law at the Library of Congress website Here.