Good News,
Bad News
Sam Aurelius Milam III
In
April of this year, I went to the Good News Clinics, in Gainesville, Georgia
and asked the lady at the front desk how much they'd charge me to clean
and examine my teeth. She told me that they don't do cleaning and
examinations, only extractions and fillings. I told her that I'd
try to find someplace else to get the examination and asked her what they'd
charge if I need any fillings. She informed me that they require
photo ID. I told her that I don't have any photo ID, that I'm undocumented.
After that, she wouldn't give me any further information. I told
her that I'd pay in cash but all that she'd do was to repeat the statement
that they require photo ID.
Such
an ID requirement violates at least four of the fundamental principles
of liberty.1
The Presumption of Innocence Principle
If
someone wants to know who I am, then all that he has to do is to ask me
and I'll tell him. I insist on being presumed innocent. I don't
need to provide any documentation to prove my identity. When I tell
someone who I am, he must assume that I'm telling the truth.
The Burden of Proof Principle
In
all accusations, the accuser must bear the burden of proof. That
means that if someone has some probable cause to believe that I'm lying
about my identity, and if he thinks that it matters (I don't), then it's
up to him to prove it. I don't have to prove to him that I'm not
lying. He has to prove to me that I am lying, and he has to do it
without my help.
The Self Incrimination Principle
In
response to an accusation that I'm lying about my identity, I don't have
to provide any information that might be used against me. That includes
photo ID, which is clearly information and which obviously might be used
against me.
The Silence Principle
I
can choose to remain silent and I can remain silent in the broadest sense
of the concept. That means that I don't have to provide any information
at all, whether or not it might be used against me.
Totalitarianism
doesn't need armies. It only needs to control a couple of things.
The media, and the ability to dispense privilege to some and to withhold
it from others....
the last president of the United States
in the miniseries Amerika
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An
ID requirement is a tool for the control of privileges. In this country
today, such control is close to absolute. Without government ID,
I can't get a job, own or drive a car, open a bank account, get a marriage
license, vote, have insurance, rent a tool, or do most of the other things
that a man ought to be able to do. As demonstrated by Good News Clinics,
I can't even get dental services without government ID. No doubt,
the people at Good News Clinics help some people who need it, but only
if those people are authorized by government ID.
There
are good reasons for objecting to a requirement for government ID.
Such ID is a powerful tool for a police state. It enables the government
to know exactly where a man is, where he works, what he earns, where he
banks, how he travels, the condition of his health, what medicines he takes,
what he eats, and so forth. Apartheid didn't have a better ID system
than the one that presently exists in this country. Hitler himself
would be green with envy at the present system of ID. My teeth can
rot before I'll become a part of a system of documentation and surveillance
that enables the government to track and observe every aspect of a man's
entire life.![10x5 Page Background GIF Image](../../Images/10x5_Page_Background.gif)
Management Potential
Original Source Unknown. Forwarded by Don G.
Several
years ago, we had an Intern who wasn't particularly bright. One day
she was typing, turned to a secretary, and said, "I'm almost out of typing
paper. What should I do?"
"Just
use copy machine paper," said the secretary.
The
intern took her last remaining blank piece of typing paper, put it on the
photocopier, copied five new pieces of typing paper, and took them back
to her typewriter.![10x5 Page Background GIF Image](../../Images/10x5_Page_Background.gif)
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July 2009 |
Frontiersman, c/o
4984 Peach Mountain Drive, Gainesville, Georgia 30507 |
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