[OT] Re: Hitchens: The Cult of ID

[J.A. Terranson]

Good Evening,
	From roughly 1985 to ~1997, I was a resident of Missouri (USA).  Now,
Missouri may well be a poster child for backwater living, but they had an
unusual thing to recommend them: they understood that a "Driver's
License" was somthing you got to prove you knew how to drive a car, rather
than something you got to drink beer and vote.  Presumable due to this
revelation, Missouri did not actually *require* either a photo or a social
security number for the issuance of a driver's license.  

	Anyone who had objection to the social security number was given a
different encoded "license number", and anyone who objected to the photo had
a red box in the corner with the words "PHOTO NOT REQUIRED" emblazoned across
it - you needed only to fill out the form which described the basis of your
objection(s).

	Even better was the State of New York, up until ~1983: no photo on
any license.  Just a piece of paper (no plastic at all) that said you knew
enough to drive.  Proving that the license belonged to *you*, and not someone
else, required actual *ID*!

	It's time we get back to the reality standard on these... 

-- 
Yours, 
J.A. Terranson
sysadmin at mfn.org





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