Great Moments in Compulsory Government IDs

In Revolution, Martin Anderson’s 1988 book about the Reagan revolution and about Marty’s role in things, Marty tells an interesting story about illegal immigration. On July 6, 1981, the Task Force on Immigration and Refugee Policy met in the White House. Marty was there. The Attorney General, William French Smith, presented his proposal for sanctions on employers who hired illegal aliens. He also proposed a national ID card so that employers would know who was legal and who wasn’t.

Marty was appalled.

He writes:

Such a card is an indispensable tool of a totalitarian state, for before a government can really begin to control your life it must know who you are and where you are, and it must be able to demand proof of your existence wherever it encounters you—applying for work, moving to another address, walking down the street. Without a national identification system, it is very difficult for a small number of people to control a large society. With one, it is much easier.

Marty then goes on to explain how having such a national ID would gradually become normal.

He notes that Smith made a flawless presentation and was persuading various members of the cabinet. Marty was sitting “a couple of feet behind the attorney general, in one of the soft leather seats along the back wall that were reserved for senior White House staff.”

When Reagan looked around the room for comments, there weren’t any. Marty did not want to be part of an administration that introduced a national ID card. And if he got fired for speaking up, oh well. So Marty broke an unwritten rule, raising his hand. Reagan noticed him and said, “Yes, Marty.”

Marty pointed out that such a card would cost several billion dollars. But that didn’t seem to bother people: “By that time a billion dollars or two didn’t bother anyone in the cabinet.” [DRH note: federal spending in FY1981 was $657 billion.]

So Marty took another tack:

“I would like to suggest another way that I think is a lot better. It’s a lot cheaper. It can’t be counterfeited. It’s very lightweight. It’s even waterproof.”

“All we have to do is tattoo an identification number on the inside of everybody’s arm.”

As Marty recounts, several people gasped and then there was a long silence. Then Interior Secretary James Watt spoke up:

“Why, it sounds to me as if you’re talking about the mark of the Beast. That’s terrible.”

Many of the people around the table looked perplexed. Reagan wasn’t. He recognized the Biblical reference to Revelation 13: 16-18.

Reagan looked directly at Smith and, smiling broadly, joked:

Maybe we should just brand all the babies.

That was the end of national ID cards for 1981.

Note: This is from the King James version of the Bible, the one I grew up with:

16 And he causeth all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and bond, to receive a mark in their right hand, or in their foreheads: 17 And that no man might buy or sell, save he that had the mark, or the name of the beast, or the number of his name. 18 Here is wisdom. Let him that hath understanding count the number of the beast: for it is the number of a man; and his number is Six hundred threescore and six.

 

 

(5 COMMENTS)