Real I.D. has popped back into the news cycle after Pennsylvanians were advised by AAA they need a Real I.D.-compliant driver’s license, or a similar form of identification, to board a commercial aircraft beginning May 7.
“You may not think you're ever going to fly,” Janet Tidwell, a AAA spokesperson, said. “But as we say about so many things, it's always better to have it and not need it as opposed to needing a Real I.D. and not having it."
Twila Brase, president and co-founder of Citizens' Council for Health Freedom, has been critical of Real I.D. for several years because of privacy and civil liberty concerns. Asked about the AAA announcement, she bluntly calls that a “lie” that never should been stated.
“In fact,” she says, “you could even fly without any kind of I.D. except you will be put through a special kind of a search to make sure that they can let you on the plane.”
According to Brase, 44% of all identification cards and drivers licenses today are not Real I.D.-compliant documents.
If anyone is wondering why a medical group is concerned about Real I.D., Brase co-founded CCHF to promote and defend patient privacy from the reach of the government and insurance companies. So her concern about privacy for everyone flows from that.
“The problem with the Real I.D. is that the card is not what people think it is,” she warns. “It is actually a federal card. It is a national identification card.”
In the wrong hands, Brace predicts Real I.D. could be used like China and its freedom-crushing social credit system. Everything from grocery purchases to medical care could be monitored and blocked, she warns, thanks to a national identification card.
“It can be required for anything that the Secretary of Homeland Security says,” she says.
