Don't let politicians take away what makes America free

Spectrum/Rep. Vic Kohring

For more than a decade, I've warned Alaskans we are gradually losing our freedoms to government - a tax here, a lost liberty there, sometimes by the feds, often by the state.

On Thursday, Feb. 10, Congress tightened the ratchet once again, this time in a very significant way.

The House of Representatives, by a substantial majority, 261 to 161, passed H.R. 418…"To establish and rapidly implement regulations for State driver's license." The specific framework commanded by the feds with this legislation creates a de facto national I.D. card!

You've all seen the old movies where a trench-coated Nazi SS officer demands "papers" on the train, or anywhere for that matter. But that is only supposed to take place in old war movies, right?

If the U.S. Senate concurs with the House, it will begin to happen again in our beloved country, in our beloved Alaska.

Let me show you how serious this has become. Or do I need to? It's already taking place at airports in this country. We hear of the humiliating searches as if people were common criminals.

We hear of the mistakes. U.S. Sen. Ted Kennedy was twice denied entrance to a flight because of another "Ted Kennedy" on the no-fly list. Now any cop, anywhere, any time, can do the same thing, and demand "papers." Frankly, it chills my heart.

H.R. 418, which the House so quickly stampeded into existence, is based completely on fear, fear of another 9-11. But it has been pointed out that every one of the hijackers on those doomed flights had legal papers, a number had proper Social Security numbers and driver's licenses.

This new law will not prevent another 9-11 at all. What's more, the very politicians who voted for it know full well it will not stop another terrorist catastrophe.

They are merely overreacting and trying to give everyone a false sense of security. As Benjamin Franklin once warned, "They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety." Unfortunately, giving up our precious liberties will not protect us more. In fact, it will do precisely the opposite.

It will subject us to the most egregious loss of our privacy since 9-11 itself. With a de facto national I.D. card, our banks, our medical records, our taxes, our real estate purchases, virtually our entire lives will be splayed out by the feds like salmon drying in the sun.

When these fears are put to the politicians themselves, the answer no doubt will be, "We are not creating a national I.D. card, but merely creating national standards for states so we can run things more efficiently." And they will cloyingly counter with, "You do think it necessary that we should defend ourselves from terrorists, don't you?"

Of course we should, but only in intelligent ways that do not take away what made America free and great in the first place.

"Necessity is the plea for every infringement of human freedom. It is the argument of tyrants…" said William Pitt. When will these pleas cease? When will we get our free America back? When will we be able to fly internally from one coast to another without having federally controlled passports, which is what national I.D. cards actually are?

We will get our freedom back when we demand that politicians stop pillaging the rest of America with taxes so Alaskans can have airports that look like palaces, or government "make-work" projects of every kind and description. We will get it back when we stop being a protectorate of Beltway politicians and demand our independence back.

When we no longer give special privileges and benefits for government in exchange for our freedom, then we will no longer suffer from federal controls and obvious usurpations. When we can get on a plane in Anchorage without I.D. or without permission from government, then we will know our freedom is intact.

Freedom goes a long way. We must get back to it before another 1776 occurs.

Rep. Vic Kohring is a Republican, and serves Wasilla and the Mat-Su in the Alaska State Legislature.