Last year, Wisconsin legislators raised the driver's license fee by $10 to pay for state compliance with Real ID, the national ID law authored by Congressman F. James Sensenbrenner. The fee, which raised Wisconsin taxes by $22 million, will now be used to balance the Wisconsin state budget.
Now Congressman Sensenbrenner is mad. He calls the deal, negotiated by Assembly Speaker Mike Huebsch (R-West Salem) and Senate Majority Leader Russ Decker (D-Weston), a "breach of faith with the people of Wisconsin" and a "fiscal shell game."
This turn of events leaves many Wisconsin conservatives scratching their heads in wonder: Congressman Sensenbrenner purports to be a foe of big government. So why is he complaining that Wisconsin legislators aren't spending his tax increase the way he wants them to?
On May 11, Wisconsin and the nation's other states reached the implementation deadline for Real ID, the national identification card program authored by Sensenbrenner, the Fifth District's 30-year
incumbent congressman. After a lengthy staring match with the states, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) blinked, effectively granting the states until 2011, perhaps even 2018, to comply. But the conflict isn't over.
Real ID was born in controversy when Sensenbrenner attached the bill as a "rider" to a 2005 military appropriation bill (a rider is a provision that shares little in common with the original bill - and is favorite technique legislators use for dropping earmarks into unrelated bills). Worse yet, Real ID was voted on in the US Senate without an opportunity for a single hearing or debate.
Many conservatives, already bristling at the GOP's irresponsible spending habits and expansion of government by 2005, soon revolted. The Wall Street Journal accused Sensenbrenner and the Republican leadership of betraying its "federalist principles" yet again. Real ID, as described by the Journal, effectively requires all 245 million license holders in the US to "head down to the local Department of Motor Vehicles with certified source documents - such as a birth certificate or Social Security card - to apply for the new standardized national ID. And people from states that don't play ball won't be able to use their licenses to board planes or enter federal buildings."
In effect, Real ID is an internal passport for American citizens with a mandate to build, according to the Cato Institute, a "federal surveillance infrastructure" to track "every American, native-born and immigrant
alike." The Journal evoked images of totalitarian Germany, calling it the "show-us-your-papers Sensenbrenner approach" to internal security.
Since 2005, the rationale for Real ID has mutated as its proponents struggle to overcome bipartisan opposition. Initially it was an antiterrorism bill.
It then became a technique to control illegal immigration. Then it was about preventing identity theft. Most recently a top DHS official suggested the ID could be used to control access to cold medications.
Reasons enough to oppose its implementation.
The lesson of DHS's call for an ID to control access to cold medicine, warns Cato's Jim Harper, is this: "Once a national ID system is in place, the federal government will use it for tighter and tighter control of every American."
With Real ID, Jim Sensenbrenner has managed to unite left and right in opposition. Groups ranging from the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) to Gun Owners of America oppose Real ID. Wayne LaPierre, executive vice president of the National Rifle Association (NRA) warned Americans that a national ID system might soon be used to monitor your "credit history, your residential information, your banking history, your medical and mental health records, your marital status, your ATM withdrawals, turnpike use,
library checkouts, movie rentals, pharmacy prescriptions, phone call records, and firearms by serial number and address. Imagine all that information encrypted in a hologram on your national ID card ... but a hologram you can't read. Only higher authorities can read it."
"Never accept the idea," he concluded, "that surrendering freedom - any freedom - is the price of feeling safe."
Nineteen state legislatures have passed bills refusing to comply with Real ID, while Republicans in Congress work for its repeal. South Carolina's Republican governor, Mark Sanford, considered suing the federal government over the unconstitutionality of Real ID. Senate Republicans John Sununu and
Lamar Alexander are working actively to roll it back.
Their complaint? Sensenbrenner's bill violates the GOP's commitment to federalism, or states' rights. Conservatives have long complained about the abuse of "unfunded mandates" by the federal government. Real ID is among the most abusive unfunded mandates in recent history: Sensenbrenner's bill appropriated between $40 and $60 million in federal funds, while estimates of the total cost passed on to the states range from $4 billion to over $20 billion.[8] With unfunded mandates like the Sensenbrenner Tax, federal legislators are able to hide the real cost of government by making the
states raise taxes for them.
It is, to use Sensenbrenner's own words, a "fiscal shell game" - the tax increase he secretly passed along to Wisconsin taxpayers a "breach of faith with the people of Wisconsin."
Proponents of Real ID suggest concerns over abuse of the system are unwarranted. But Americans were once promised that Social Security numbers would not be used for identification purposes. Now, Social Security numbers are used for drivers licenses, patient and credit records, and by employers. Moreover, Real ID's national database increases the likelihood of identity theft.
There are viable alternatives. For those who would use Sensenbrenner's national ID to combat illegal immigration, Congressman Paul Ryan (R-Wis) introduced in February an employment verification system to provide a "tested and effective way to immediately authenticate an employee's legal status." Ryan touts his proposal as an effective alternative to the "new 'big brother', one-size-fits-all federal
government database and national I.D. card."
Wisconsin voters should be angry enough that under Republicans the government grew by almost fifty percent between 2001 and 2007. Now the same leaders who gave us $3 trillion in new debt and a massive expansion of Medicare are working hard to give us more unfunded government, this time at
the expense of our privacy.
Next time you complain about Wisconsin's high tax rates, remember the Sensenbrenner Tax. It's one of many reasons Real ID needs to be repealed.
Jim Burkee, an associate professor of history at Concordia University Wisconsin, is challenging Jim Sensenbrenner in the September 9 primary for Wisconsin's Fifth Congressional District seat.
3 Comments
Talk about convoluted logic, double talk and innuendo. This article has it all. The "Sensenbrenner Tax" does not exist to start with. Mr. Burkee seems to be trying to associate a tax passed in the state legislature with a federal representative. Sensenbrenner had no part in setting up the drivers licenses fees to pay for the Real ID law. Each state makes their own decisions as how to fund the program, it could have come from the Transportation Budget without increasing Taxes if Governor Doyle hadn't already raided it for previous budgets. So calling the Fee's passed by the STATE LEGISLATURE a tax raised by Jim Sensenbrenner is fundamentally dishonest.
Mr. Sensenbrenner's comment about the "fiscal shell game" is accurate is it not? Raiding the funding for the Real ID program is simply borrowing money from ourselves that we will have to pay back into the future, what happened to Governor Doyle's budget that was such great shape during the election? Is Mr. Sensenbrenner, as a resident of Wisconsin, not entitled to voice his displeasure with the blatant disregard of fiscal responsibility by the State Senate, Congress and the Governor?
If you disagree with what the Real ID bill stands for Mr. Burkee, please argue against it, but don't come up with red herrings that are nothing more than thinly veiled attacks against your soon to be political rival.
Congressman "Senselessbrenner" is the poster child for the "new right." The last 10 years of national politics has precipitated an immediate and urgent need to redefine definitions and put an end to an uninhibited proliferation of Orwellian "newspeak." In this nation, "conservative" may now be equated with fascist. The Congressman has proved it. The ideals of classical conservatism, which in reality and historical context are known as the ideals of classical liberalism (don't get lost yet) are as valid as always, since they are based upon absolute truths, i.e., "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. --That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, --That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness." Among the most important words of our Declaration of Independence are those above that state, "whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness."
We are at a historical crossroads in this country. We must make a choice between restoring our Republic and the ideals it was founded upon - that means radical reform of our government institutions to make them conform to the Constitution (this is where we remind Jim that the Constitution is the Law of the Land) - or allowing an agenda that is antithetical to our Constitutional principles to complete its usurpation of our rights, freedoms and sovereignty. There have been far too many violations of the Constitution by our federal government over the past 80 years for any reasoning individual to think that they are accidental or disconnected. They are calculated, intentional, sometimes veiled, sometimes evident actions by a ruling elite that considers itself above the Law. They are getting away with these flagrant insults to our Republic because we are letting them do so.
I offer an idea to all. Why don't we do what we're supposed to? Let's oppose this usurpation by any and all means. We don't have to ask anyone for permission to radically reform our government or abolish this one and start over. The power is ours...and has been from the beginning thanks to brave patriots and the world's most important and enlightened documents regarding individual freedom and self-government: the Constitution of the United States of America and the Declaration of Independence. Let's collectively "grow a pair" and take back our country for our kids and grandkids. And let's start now! I want to see Americans get their blood up in defense of the Republic!
A few comments if I may:
1. Jim, I applaud your desire to maintain our freedoms, but do the research and get the information correct. The fact that we have had to talk about 'Real ID' is condemning of our governments inability to do what they are charged responsiblity to do.
2. Brian, all great points but we need to maintain an effort based on moving our government back to a service minded body. An emotional response is good for getting started but we need a sustained effort based on accountability of our representatives.
3. We can start now and continue with each election and subsequent removal if a politico gets out of line.
Personal responsibility is what made this country strong. WE ALL need to act swiftly to remove politicos that stray from serving the people. Vote carefully and for the person that will govern with what is right versus taking polls. Watch for their results, if there are none, get them gone.