The holy grail of snoopery

An unpopular truth

[Reprinted from Issues & Views December 31, 2001]

All of us are willing to give up some of our personal privacy in return for greater safety. That's why we gladly suffer the pat-downs and "wanding" at airports, and show a local photo ID before boarding. Such precautions contribute to our peace of mind.

However, the fear of terror attack is being exploited by law enforcement sweeping for suspects as well as by commercial marketers seeking prospects. It has emboldened the zealots of intrusion to press for the holy grail of snoopery--a mandatory national ID. . . .

But in the dreams of Big Brother and his cousin, Big Marketing, nothing can compare to forcing every person in the United States--under penalty of law--to carry what the totalitarians used to call "papers."

What about us libertarian misfits who take the trouble to try to "opt out"? We will not be able to travel, or buy on credit, or participate in tomorrow's normal life. Soon enough, police as well as employers will consider those who resist full disclosure of their financial, academic, medical, religious, social and political affiliations to be suspect.

-- William Safire, excerpted from "Threat of National ID," New York Times, December 24, 2001.

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