National ID cards. One step closer.

Yesterday the house voted overwhelmingly for a bill that will require standardized drivers licenses across all fifty states and the District of Columbia. I know this is a contentious issue with many people, but I still have to say that I'm in favor of it. In fact, I think this doesn't go quite far enough, because not everyone has a drivers license. I think a national ID card is in order, but there seems to be too much resistance to that at this point.

There are certainly some valid arguments against this bill. Several state governors said that it would put them in the position of becoming de facto immigration and national security officers without the funding and resources to do the job adequately. It was also pointed out that the measure could substantially increase the waiting period for people legitimately seeking their drivers license.

The benefits to this, in my opinion, outweigh the objections. The only change I would make would be to ensure that the bill provides additional federal funding for the states to accomplish this work in a speedy and efficient manner. It helps to address a number of immigration issues and would be an aide to law enforcement efforts. Concerns about the government suddenly having "too much information on citizens" from a privacy standpoint is, I feel, a bit of a red herring. This is information that is already at the government's disposal any time they seek it out.

This is long overdue, and I hope it passes the Senate as well. Mike had an interesting post on undifferentiated opposition over at Running Scared this week. It pointed out to me that I am so violently opposed to Bush that I tend to fight against anything he wants to do, and that's wrong. I promised myself that I would look for things I agree with and post about them as well. This is the first one I've found. Bush is backing this move, and he's right on this one.