By James Bovard, CampaignforLiberty.com

The REAL ID Act may be on the verge of receiving its final coffin nails. Unfortunately, the Obama administration is pushing a replacement bill that poses many of the same threats as REAL ID. The history of REAL ID should inspire friends of freedom to once again vigorously oppose any and every federal grab for their personal information.

The feds had sought legislation to create national ID cards in the 1990s but were rebuffed by a Republican Congress. But, after 9/11, “everything changed” — at least in Washington. Regardless of the reasons why the CIA and FBI failed to stop the hijackers, the solution was far more snooping and the potential creation of hundreds of millions of dossiers on American citizens. Almost overnight, it became widely accepted that the government must have unlimited powers to search anywhere and everywhere for enemies of freedom. The worse the government’s failure to protect Americans, the further it permitted itself to intrude. Continue Reading

by State Sen. Mike Folmer (PA-48)

Every federal and state-elected official took an oath to uphold the U.S. and Pennsylvania constitutions. It is imperative those in public office start taking these oaths seriously, bea­cause each day that goes by, more and more of our rights and freedoms are being lost, and government’s appetite for collecting personal and private data continues to grow.

I believe the most egregious example of government overreaching into personal lives is the federal Real ID Act. Designed to protect Americans in post-9/11 society, Real ID would create a national identification card. Proponents of the act believe Americans should be stripped of essential liberties for the greater safety of the country. Continue Reading

An open letter to Arnold Schwarzenegger

Dear Governor Schwarzenegger:

As a constituent who cares deeply about privacy and national security, I urge you to oppose implementation of the REAL ID Act and support its immediate repeal.

The creation of a national identification card is not a power delegated to Congress under Article I, section 8 of the United States Constitution, and violates the Tenth Amendment to the Constitution which states, “The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the states, are reserved to the states respectively, or to the people.” Continue Reading

by David Smith

In response to “The Constitution and the Right to Privacy”

The only point that I would add is that there exists a fundamental difference between the Federal Government, which these amendments limits, and the State Governments, which the 10th Amendment empowers.  Actually, ‘empowers’ is not the right term because power not delegated is ‘reserved.’  That would entail that it (supposedly) never left the States in the first place! Continue Reading

For a long, long time, we’ve heard people debate back and forth about whether or not there’s a “right to privacy” in the Constitution (and Bill of Rights).

For an excellent lesson on this issue, see a classic article from Harry Browne: Continue Reading

This week, Rep. Ron Paul introduced HR 3835 - the American Freedom Agenda Act of 2007. This bill, if passed, would go a long way towards restoring liberty and the constitution in this country, and eliminate a number of “laws” that were enacted beyond the Constitution’s limit on federal power. Continue Reading