Big brother doing his job . . . or pushing toward tyranny?

Sounds reasonable enough: biometric Social Security cards to ensure that only legal residents of the United States can get jobs here.

But then you hear the other side--from Texas Representative Ron Paul and John Tate, president of Campaign for Liberty. Tate, in an email I received this afternoon, writes:

This is getting to be like a bad movie.

You know the ones where the villain, dead and buried more times than you can count, somehow mysteriously reappears in a place you don’t expect him?

Well, here comes... a new fight over a biometric national ID card -- and if you don’t have the card, you can’t work.

Right now, . . . Senator Lindsey Graham (R-SC) and Senator Chuck Schumer (D-NY), banding together with other statists from both parties, are scheming to sneak a massive power grab into a new “immigration reform” bill.

This bill [offers] “amnesty” for illegal immigrants and a biometric ID card for virtually everyone else.

That’s right. Instead of controlling the border and enforcing the rule of law, these statists want to control you. . . .

You see, a National ID scheme -- complete with biometric tracking technology -- is embedded in the new “Comprehensive Immigration Reform Bill” being pushed by Senators Graham and Schumer, as well as other Big Government members from both parties.

And if passed, the “Comprehensive Immigration Reform Bill” would require a new National ID card that would:

*** Include biometric identification information such as fingerprints, retinal scans or scans of veins on the back of hands. Depending on the technology used, the ID card could easily be used as a tracking device [though Schumer and Graham explicitly say, "The cards would not contain any private information, medical information or tracking devices." --Can we trust the government? In case you can't remember, government leaders also promised (1913) that the income tax was solely to be levied on only those making "very great incomes" and even they by "never more than three or four percent of their net incomes." --Within three years of ratification, however (1916), the top marginal rate was 15 percent; the next year, 67 percent; by 1918: 77 percent (on all income above $1 million--which was a lot money in those days); by 1922: 58 percent of everything above $200,000; 1942: 88 percent of everything above $200,000; 1944: 94 percent of everything above $200,000. In 1948 and '49, the government mercifully placed a cap on its avarice: no taxpayer would have to pay more than 77% of statutory "net income" . . . See the TruthAndPolitics "Top US Marginal Income Tax Rates, 1913-2003" for the full story. --Do you need more examples of the government's trustworthiness in these kinds of things? How about the RICO legislation that was supposed to be directed solely against mafia-style organizations but was soon turned to use against peaceful anti-abortion protesters? Social Security (which was, originally, conceived as a true form of insurance to be paid out of reserves but that was very soon shifted into a pay-as-you-go system [i.e., as critics say, a Ponzi scheme]? --JAH)

*** Be required for all U.S. workers regardless of place of birth, and make it illegal for anyone to hold a job in the United States who doesn't obtain the ID card;

*** Require all employers to purchase an “ID scanner” to verify the ID cards with the federal government. Every time any citizen applies for a job, the government would know -- and you can bet it’s only a matter of time until “ID scans” will be required to make even routine purchases, as well.

Of course, the most dangerous part of the bill is the biometric tracking technology which would allow federal bureaucrats to track our every move.

Allowing our government to have this much “prying power” in our lives will ultimately result in the TOTAL loss of freedom.

This is exactly the type of battle that often decides whether a country remains free, or continues down a slide toward tyranny.

Government goon squads with all our personal information -– information they do not need and constitutionally should not have –- is a recipe for disaster for our nation.

You see, once “well-meaning” government bureaucrats know exactly how we live our lives, it won’t be long until they try to run them.

In fact, it will only be a matter of time until they spend their workdays making sure you and I don’t go anywhere we “shouldn’t,” buy anything we “shouldn’t,” read anything we “shouldn’t,” eat anything we “shouldn’t” or smoke anything we “shouldn’t.” . . .

[With all the anger being expressed against the federal government's recent power grabs,] the statists are [now] trying a bipartisan “backdoor” scheme to impose more control on American citizens.

They’re hoping that after months of Big Media mouthpieces decrying the “poisonous and partisan politics” in Washington, the American people will jump for joy at the sight of a Democrat from liberal New York and a Republican from conservative South Carolina “working together to solve our immigration mess.”

[Don't buy it!] . . .

Tate concludes his letter by urging us to sign a petition and make a contribution to help stop the Schumer-Graham legislation.

What do you think?

*******
For a relatively balanced presentation on the issues, see this article in The Wall Street Journal online.

And then there's this more recent update--that suggests immigration reform is "dead" for the remainder of this year.