Since I posted the previous article I have talked with a number of people and everyone feels that it would restrict their freedom.

The second concern is if there were such a card could someone be arrested for not carrying it?

First, it would be an identification card not a government ‘tracking device”. The US government already has such a device. It is your credit or debit card.

If the government wanted to, they would know how much money you spend with respect to your income, what you buy and where and when. They could follow your activities in great detail at present if they wanted to.

They know the make, model and year of your automobile and knowing how much gas you purchase, they can know how far you drive in a year and where you have purchased gas therefore where you have been.

When I go to vote in Connecticut, I must present my driver’s license or I don’t get to vote. It’s as simple as that. The police don’t haul me away to prison.

We carry all sorts of “cards” today already. You have your driver’s license, your Social Security Card, your medical insurance or Medicare card, your library card and so on.
If you do not present that card you are not arrested, you simply do not receive some service appropriate to that card.

Now to the consequences as a result of NOT having this card.

Saudi terrorists would have been unable to obtain drivers licenses which they were able to use to receive flight training leading to pilot certificates in the US.

They would have been unable to board those large commercial aircraft.

The World Trade Towers would still be standing. Those lives would not have been lost. The US would not have gone into Afganistan. The US would not be fighting a war in Iraq.
Billions of dollars would be instead taking care of problems at home. Thousands of American servicemen would be alive today and more thousands would not be crippled.

A National Identity Card would have prevented all this.

What lies in store for us without this card?

It’s your decision.

A near-miss of two airplanes last week has started a frenzy of fear.
A pilot acknowledged his ATC transmission to ‘hold short’ but didn’t.
So, Mary Peters, the US Transportation Secretary, at 10:45am January 14th 2008 during an interview on FOX news, said that the plans are to update the air traffic control system and charge different rates for different categories of aircraft use at airports.
The cost will have to be passed on to the air traveler.
She also wants ground-based RADAR replaced with satellite-based RADAR.

Just what does that have to do with a pilot not following instructions?

This is an example of the kindergarten mentality that pervades our knee-jerk solution to world problems.
If one kid cuts his finger with scissors while cutting paper in a second grade project class, the school bans all scissors on school property forever and any child stupid enough to bring a pair of scissors to school in his or her backpack is charged with a felony.

The near-miss had nothing to do with ATC or RADAR or anything else except one person breaking a law.

Should we, using the same logic, ban highway intersections because one person ran a stop light and almost hit a bus?