An Essay You Must Read
LAND-MINE LEGISLATION
by Claire Wolfe
Part I
Let me run by you a brief list of items that are "the law" in America today. As you read, consider what all these have in common.
1. A national database of employed people.
2. 100 pages of new "health care crimes," for which the penalty is (among other things) seizure of assets from both doctors and patients.
3. Confiscation of assets from any American who establishes foreign citizenship.
4. The largest gun confiscation act in U.S. history - which is also an unconstitutional ex postfacto law and the first law ever to remove people's constitutional rights for committing a misdemeanor.
5. A law banning guns in ill-defined school zones; random roadblocks may be used for enforcement; gun-bearing residents could become federal criminals just by stepping outside their doors or getting into vehicles.
6. Increased funding for the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms, an agency infamous for its brutality, dishonesty and ineptitude.
7. A law enabling the executive branch to declare various groups "Terrorists" - without stating any reason and without the possibility of appeal. Once a group has been so declared, its mailing and membership lists must be turned over to the government.
8. A law authorizing secret trials with secret evidence for certain classes of people.
9. A law requiring that all states begin issuing drivers licenses carrying Social Security numbers and "security features" (such as magnetically coded fingerprints and personal records) by October 1, 2000. By October 1, 2006, "Neither the Social Security Administration or the Passport Office or any other Federal agency or any State or local government agency may accept for any evidentiary purpose a State driver's license or identification document in a form other than [one issued with a verified Social Security number and 'security features']."
10. And my personal favorite - a national database, now being constructed, that will contain every exchange and observation that takes place in your doctor's office. This includes records of your prescriptions, your hemorrhoids and your mental illness. It also includes - by law - any statements you make ("Doc, I'm worried my kid may be on drugs...... Doc, I've been so stressed out lately I feel about ready to go postal.") and any observations your doctor makes about your mental or physical condition, whether accurate or not, whether made with your knowledge or not. For the time being, there will be zero (count 'em, zero) privacy safeguards on this data. But don't worry, your government will protect you with some undefined "privacy standards" in a few years.
All of the above items are the law of the land. Federal law. What else do they have in common?
Well, when I ask this question to audiences, I usually get the answer, "They're all unconstitutional." True.
My favorite answer came from an eloquent college student who blurted, "They all SUUUCK!" Also true.
But the saddest and most telling answer is: They were all the product of the 104th Congress. Every one of the horrors above was imposed upon you by the Congress of the Republican-Revolution -- the Congress that pledged to "get government off your back."
BURYING TIME BOMBS
All of the above became law by being buried in larger bills. In many cases, they are hidden sneak attacks upon
individual liberties that were neither debated on the floor of Congress nor reported in the media. For instance, three
of the most horrific items (the health care database, asset confiscation for foreign residency and the 100 pages of
health care crimes) were hidden in the Kennedy-Kassebaum Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of
1996 (HR 3103). You didn't hear about them at the time because the media was too busy celebrating this moderate,
compromise bill that "simply" ensured that no American would ever lose insurance coverage due to a job change or a
Pre-existing condition.
Your legislator may not have heard about them, either. Because he or she didn't care enough to do so. The fact is,
most legislators don't even read the laws they inflict upon the public. They read the title of the bill (which may be
something like "The Save the Sweet Widdle Babies from Gun Violence by Drooling Drug Fiends Act of 1984").
They read summaries, which are often prepared by the very agencies or groups pushing the bill. And they vote
according to various deals or pressures.
It also sometimes happens that the most horrible provisions are sneaked into bills during conference committee
negotiations, after both House and Senate have voted on their separate versions of the bills. The conference
committee process is supposed simply to reconcile differences between two versions of a bill. But power brokers use
it for purposes of their own, adding what they wish. Then members of the House and Senate vote on the final, unified
version of the bill, often in a great rush, and often without even having the amended text available for review.
I have even heard (though I cannot verify) that stealth provisions were written into some bills after all the voting has
taken place. Someone with a hidden agenda simply edits them in to suit his or her own purposes. So these time
bombs become "law" without ever having been voted on by anybody. And who's to know? If congress people don't
even read legislation before they vote on it, why would they bother reading it afterward? Are power brokers capable
of such chicanery? Do we even need to ask? Is the computer system in which bills are stored vulnerable to tampering
by people within or outside of Congress? We certainly should ask. Whether your legislators were ignorant of the
infamy they were perpetrating, or whether they knew, one thing is absolutely certain:
The Constitution, your legislator's oath to it, and your inalienable rights (which precede the Constitution) never entered
into anyone's consideration. Ironically, you may recall that one of the early pledges of Newt Gingrich and Company
was to stop these stealth attacks. Very early in the 104th Congress, the Republican leadership declared that,
henceforth, all bills would deal only with the subject matter named in the title of the bill. When, at the beginning of the
first session of the 104th, pro-gun Republicans attempted to attach a repeal of the "assault weapons" ban to another
bill, House leaders dismissed their amendment as not being "germane." After that self-righteous and successful
attempt to prevent pro-freedom stealth legislation, Congress people turned right around and got back to the dirty old
business of practicing all the anti-freedom stealth they were capable of.
STEALTH ATTACKS IN BROAD DAYLIGHT
Three other items on my list (ATF funding, gun confiscation and school zone roadblocks) were also buried in a big bill
- HR 3610, the budget appropriation passed near the end of the second session of the 104th Congress. No legislator
can claim to have been unaware of these three because they were brought to public attention by gun-rights groups and
hotly debated in both Congress and the media. Yet some 90 percent of all congress people voted for them including
many who claim to be ardent protectors of the rights guaranteed by the Second Amendment. Why?
Well, in the case of my wrapped-in-the-flag, allegedly pro-gun, Republican congressperson: "Bill Clinton made me do
it!"
Okay, I paraphrase. What she actually said was more like, "It was part of a budget appropriations package. The
public got mad at us for shutting the government down in 1994. If we hadn't voted for this budget bill, they might
have elected a Democratic legislature in 1996 - and you wouldn't want THAT, would you?" Oh heavens, no I'd
much rather be enslaved by people who spell their name with an R than people who spell their name with a D.
Makes all the difference in the world!
HOW SNEAK ATTACKS ARE JUSTIFIED
The Republicans are fond of claiming that Bill Clinton "forced" them to pass certain legislation by threatening to veto
anything they sent to the White House that didn't meet his specs. In other cases (as with the Kennedy-Kassebaum
bill), they proudly proclaim their misdeeds in the name of bipartisanship - while carefully forgetting -to mention the true
nature of what they're doing. In still others, they trumpet their triumph over the evil Democrats and claim the mantle of
limited government while sticking it to us and to the Constitution. The national database of workers was in the welfare
reform bill they "forced" Clinton to accept. The requirement for SS numbers and ominous "security" devices on
drivers licenses originated in their very own Immigration Control and Financial Responsibility Act of 1996, HR 2202.
Another common trick, called to my attention by Redmon Barbry, publisher of the electronic magazine Fratricide, is
to hide duplicate or near-duplicate provisions in several bills. Then, when the Supreme Court declares Section A of
Law Z to be -unconstitutional, its kissing cousin, Section B of Law Y, remains to rule us.
Sometimes this particular form of trickery is done even more brazenly; when the Supreme Court, in its Lopez
decision, declared federal-level school zone gun bans unconstitutional because Congress demonstrated no jurisdiction,
Congress brassily changed a few words. They claimed that school zones fell under the heading of "interstate
commerce." Then they sneaked the provision into HR 3610, where it became "law" once again. When angry voters
upbraid congress people about some Big Brotherish horror they've inflicted upon the country by stealth, they claim
lack of knowledge, lack of time, party pressure, public pressure, or they justify themselves by claiming that the rest of
the bill was "good".
The simple fact is that, regardless of what reasons legislators may claim, the U.S. Congress has passed more Big
Brother legislation in the last two years - more laws to enable tracking, spying and controlling - than any Democratic
congress ever passed. And they have done it, in large part, in secret.
Redmon Barbry put it best: "We the people have the right to expect our elected representatives to read, comprehend
and master the bills they vote on. If this means Congress passes only 50 bills per session instead of 5,000, so be it.
As far as I am concerned, whoever subverts this process is committing treason." By whatever means the deed is
done, there is no acceptable excuse for voting against the Constitution, voting for tyranny. And I would add to
Redmon's comments: Those who do read the bills, then knowingly vote to ravage our liberties, are doubly guilty. But
when do the treason trials begin?
BILLS AS WINDOW DRESSING FOR AN UGLY AGENDA
The truth is that these tiny, buried provisions are often the real intent of the law, and that the hundreds, perhaps
thousands, of pages that surround them are sometimes nothing more than elaborate window dressing. These tiny time
bombs are placed there at the behest of federal police agencies or other power groups whose agenda is not clearly
visible to us. And their impact is felt long after the outward intent of the bill has been forgotten.
Civil forfeiture - now one of the plagues of the nation was first introduced in the 1970s as one of those buried, almost
unnoticed provisions of a larger law. One wonders why on earth a "health care bill" carried a provision to confiscate
the assets of people who become frightened or discouraged enough to leave the country. (In fact, the entire bill was
an amendment to the Internal Revenue Code. Go figure.)
I think we all realize by now that that database of employed people will still be around enabling government to track
our locations (and heaven knows what else. about us, as the database is enhanced and expanded) long after the
touted benefits of "welfare reform" have failed to materialize.
And most grimly of all, our drivers licenses will be our de facto national ID card long after immigrants have ceased to
want to come to this Land of the Once Free.
CONTROL REIGNS
It matters not one whit whether the people controlling you call themselves R's or D's, liberals or conservatives,
socialists or even (I hate to admit it) libertarians. It doesn't matter whether they vote for these horrors because they're
not paying attention or because they actually like such things.
What matters is that the pace of totalitarianism is increasing. And it is coming closer to our daily lives all the time.
Once your state passes the enabling legislation (under threat of losing "federal welfare dollars"), it is YOUR name and
Social Security number that will be entered in that employee database the moment you go to work for a new
employer. It is YOU who will be unable to cash a check, board an airplane, get a passport or be allowed any
dealings with any government agency if you refuse to give your SS number to the drivers license bureau. It is YOU
who will be endangered by driving "illegally" if you refuse to submit to Big Brother's procedures. It is YOU whose
psoriasis, manic depression or prostate troubles will soon be the reading matter of any bureaucrat with a computer. It
is YOU who could be declared a member of a "foreign terrorist" organization just because you bought a book or
concert tickets from some group the government doesn't like. It is YOU who could lose your home, bank account
and reputation because you made a mistake on a health insurance form. Finally, when you become truly desperate for
freedom, it is YOU whose assets will be seized if you try to flee this increasingly insane country.
As Ayn Rand said in Atlas Shrugged, "There's no way to rule innocent men. The only power government has is the
power to crack down on criminals. Well, when there aren't enough criminals, one makes them. One declares so
many things to be a crime that it becomes impossible for men to live without breaking laws."
It's time to drop any pretense: We are no longer law-abiding citizens. We have lost our law-abiding status. There are
simply too many laws to abide. And because of increasingly draconian penalties and electronic tracking mechanisms,
our "lawbreaking" places us and our families in greater jeopardy every day.
STOPPING RUNAWAY GOVERNMENT
The question is: What are we going to do about it? Write a. nice, polite letter to your congressperson? Hey, if you
think that'll help, I've got a bridge you might be interested in buying. (And it isn't your "bridge to the future," either.)
Vote "better people, into office? Oh yeah, that's what we thought we were doing in 1994. Work to fight one bad bill
or another? Okay. What will you do about the 10 or 20 or 100 equally horrible bills that will be passed behind your
back while you were fighting that little battle? And let's say you defeat a nightmare bill this year. What, are you going
to do when they sneak it back in, at the very last minute, in some "omnibus legislation" next year? And what about the
horrors you don't even learn about until two or three years after they become law? Should you try fighting these laws
in the courts? Where do you find the resources? Where do you find a judge who doesn't have a vested interest in
bigger, more powerful government? And again, for every one case decided in favor of freedom, what do you do
about the 10, 20 or 100 in which the courts decide against the Bill of Rights?
Perhaps you'd consider trying to stop the onrush of these horrors with a constitutional amendment - maybe one that
bans "omnibus" bills, requires that every law meet a constitutional test or requires all congress people to sign
statements that they've read and understood every aspect of every bill on which they vote. Good luck! Good luck,
first, on getting such an amendment passed. Then good luck getting our Constitution-scorning "leaders" to obey it.
It is true that the price of liberty is eternal vigilance, and part of that vigilance has been, traditionally, keeping a
watchful eye on laws and on lawbreaking lawmakers.
But given the current pace of law spewing and unconstitutional regulation-writing, you could watch, plead and struggle
"within the system" 24 hours a day for your entire life and end up infinitely less free than when you begin. Why throw
your life away on a futile effort?
Face it. If "working within the system" could halt tyranny, the tyrants would outlaw it. Why do you think they
encourage you to vote, to write letters, to talk to them in public forums? It's to divert your energies. To keep you
tame. 'The system" as it presently exists is nothing but a rat maze. You run around thinking you're getting
somewhere. Your masters occasionally reward you with a little pellet that encourages you to believe you're
accomplishing something. And in the meantime, you are as much their property and their pawn as if you were a
slave. In the effort of fighting them on their terms and with their authorized and approved tools, you have given your
life's energy to them as surely as if you were toiling in their cotton fields, under the lash of their overseer. The only way
we're going to get off this road to Hell is if we jump off. If we, personally, as individuals, refuse to cooperate with
evil. How we do that is up to each of us. I can't decide for you, nor you for me. (Unlike congress people, who think
they can decide for everybody.) But this totalitarian runaway truck is never going to stop unless we stop it, in any
way we can. Stopping it might include any number of things: tax resistance; public civil disobedience; wide-scale,
silent non-cooperation; highly noisy non-cooperation; boycotts; secession efforts; monkey wrenching; computer
hacking; dirty tricks against government agents; public shunning of employees of abusive government agencies;
alternative, self-sufficient communities that provide their own medical care and utilities.
There are thousands of avenues to take, and this is something most of us still need to give more thought to before we
can build an effective resistance. We will each choose the courses that are right for our own circumstances,
personalities and beliefs.
Whatever we do, though, we must remember that we are all, already, outlaws. Not one of us can be certain going
through a single day without violating some law or regulation we've never even heard of. We are all guilty in the eyes
of today's law. If someone in power chooses to target us, we can all, already, be prosecuted for something. And I'm
sure you know that your claims of "good intentions" won't protect you, as the similar claims of politicians protect them.
Politicians are above the law. YOU are under it. Crushed under it. When you look at it that way, we have little left
to lose by breaking laws creatively and purposefully. Yes, some of us will suffer horrible consequences for our
lawbreaking. It is very risky to actively resist unbridled power. It is especially risky to go public with resistance
(unless hundreds of thousands publicly join us), and it becomes riskier the closer we get to tyranny. For that reason,
among many others, I would never recommend any particular course of action to anyone - and I hope you'll think
twice before taking "advice" from anybody about things that could jeopardize your life or well-being. But if we don't
resist in the best ways we know how and if a good number of us don't resist loudly and publicly - all of us will suffer
the much worse consequences of living under total oppression. And whatever courses of action we choose, we must
remember that this legislative "revolution" against We the People will not be stopped by politeness. It will not be
stopped by requests. It will not be stopped by "working within a system" governed by those who regard us as
nothing but cattle. It will not be stopped by pleading for justice from those who will resort to any degree of trickery
or violence to rule us.
It will not be stopped unless we are willing to risk our lives, our fortunes and our sacred honors to stop it. I think of
the words of Winston Churchill: "If you will not fight for the right when you can easily win without bloodshed, if you
will not fight when your victory will be sure and not so costly, you may come to the moment when you will have to
fight with all the odds against you and only a precarious chance for survival. There may be a worse case. You may
have to fight when there is no chance of victory, because it is better to perish than to live as slaves."
NOTES on the laws listed above:
1. (employee database) Welfare Reform Bill, HR 3734; became public law 104-193 on 8/22196; see section 453A.
2. (health care crimes) Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996, HR 3103; became public law
104-191 on 8/21/96.
3. (asset confiscation for citizenship change) Same law as #2; see; sections 511-513.
4., 5., and 6. (anti-gun laws) Omnibus Appropriations Act, HR 3610; became public law 104-208 on 9/30/96.
7. and 8. (terrorism & secret trials) Antiterrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act of 1996; S 735; became public law
104-132 on 4/24/96; see all of Title III, specifically sections 302 and 219; also see all of Tide IV, specifically sections
401, 501, 502 and 503.
9. (de facto national ID card) Began life in the Immigration Control and Financial Responsibility Act of 1996, sections
III, II 8, 119, 127 and 133; was eventually folded into the Omnibus Appropriations Act, HR 3610 (which was itself
formerly called the Defense Appropriations Act - but we wouldn't want to confuse anyone, here, would we?);
became public law 104-208 on 9/30/96; see sections 656 and 657 among others.
10. (health care database) Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996, HR 3103; became public law
104-191 on 8/21/96; see sections 262, 263 and 264, among others. The various provisions that make up the full
horror of this database are scattered throughout the bill and may take hours to track down; this one is stealth
legislation at its utmost sneakiest.
And one final, final note: Although I spent aggravating hours verifying the specifics of these bills (a task I swear I will
never waste my life on again!), the original list of bills at the top of this article was NOT the result of extensive
research. It was simply what came off the top of my head when I thought of Big Brotherish bills from the 104th
Congress. For all I know, Congress has passed 10 times more of that sort of thing. In fact, the worst "law" in the list
--
#9, the de facto national ID card -- just came to my attention as I was writing this essay, thanks to the enormous
efforts of Jackie - Juntti and Ed Lyon and others, who researched the law. Think of it: Thanks to congressional
stealth tactics, we had the long-dreaded national ID card legislation for five months, without a whisper of discussion,
before freedom activists began to find out about it. Makes you wonder what else might be lurking out there, doesn't
it?
And on that cheery note - THE END
Part II
GUEST EDITORIAL
Legacy of the Republican Revolution
Land-Mine Legislation
Part 2
by Claire Wolfe
Wolfe's Lodge
STOPPING RUNAWAY GOVERNMENT
The question is: What are we going to do about it? Write a nice, polite
letter to your congressperson? Hey, if you think that'll help, I've got a
bridge you might be interested in buying. (And it isn't your "bridge to the
future," either.)
Vote "better people, into office? Oh yeah, that's what we thought we were
doing in 1994. Work to fight one bad bill or another? Okay. What will you
do about the 10 or 20 or 100 equally horrible bills that will be passed
behind your back while you were fighting that little battle? And let's say
you defeat a nightmare bill this year. What, are you going to do when they
sneak it back in, at the very last minute, in some "omnibus legislation"
next year? And what about the horrors you don't even learn about until two
or three years after they become law? Should you try fighting these laws in
the courts? Where do you find the resources? Where do you find a judge who
doesn't have a vested interest in bigger, more powerful government? And
again, for every one case decided in favor of freedom, what do you do about
the 10, 20 or 100 in which the courts decide against the Bill of Rights?
Perhaps you'd consider trying to stop the onrush of these horrors with a
constitutional amendment - maybe one that bans "omnibus" bills, requires
that every law meet a constitutional test or requires all congress people
to sign statements that they've read and understood every aspect of every
bill on which they vote. Good luck! Good luck, first, on getting such an
amendment passed. Then good luck getting our Constitution-scorning
"leaders" to obey it.
It is true that the price of liberty is eternal vigilance, and part of that
vigilance has been, traditionally, keeping a watchful eye on laws and on
lawbreaking lawmakers.
But given the current pace of law spewing and unconstitutional
regulation-writing, you could watch, plead and struggle "within the system"
24 hours a day for your entire life and end up infinitely less free than
when you begin. Why throw your life away on a futile effort?
Face it. If "working within the system" could halt tyranny, the tyrants
would outlaw it. Why do you think they encourage you to vote, to write
letters, to talk to them in public forums? It's to divert your energies. To
keep you tame. "The system", as it presently exists, is nothing but a rat
maze. You run around thinking you're getting somewhere. Your masters
occasionally reward you with a little pellet that encourages you to believe
you're accomplishing something. And in the meantime, you are as much their
property and their pawn as if you were a slave.
In the effort of fighting them on their terms and with their authorized and
approved tools, you have given your life's energy to them as surely as if
you were toiling in their cotton fields, under the lash of their overseer.
The only way we're going to get off this road to Hell is if we jump off. If
we, personally, as individuals, refuse to cooperate with evil. How we do
that is up to each of us. I can't decide for you, nor you for me. (Unlike
congress people, who think they can decide for everybody.) But this
totalitarian runaway truck is never going to stop unless we stop it, in any
way we can.
Stopping it might include any number of things: tax resistance; public
civil disobedience; wide-scale, silent non-cooperation; highly noisy
non-cooperation; boycotts; secession efforts; monkey wrenching; computer
hacking; dirty tricks against government agents; public shunning of
employees of abusive government agencies; alternative, self-sufficient
communities that provide their own medical care and utilities.
There are thousands of avenues to take, and this is something most of us
still need to give more thought to before we can build an effective
resistance. We will each choose the courses that are right for our own
circumstances, personalities and beliefs.
Whatever we do, though, we must remember that we are all, already, outlaws.
Not one of us can be certain of going through a single day without
violating some law or regulation we've never even heard of. We are all
guilty in the eyes of today's law. If someone in power chooses to target
us, we can all, already, be prosecuted for something. And I'm sure you know
that your claims of "good intentions" won't protect you, as the similar
claims of politicians protect them.
Politicians are above the law. YOU are under it. Crushed under it. When you
look at it that way, we have little left to lose by breaking laws
creatively and purposefully. Yes, some of us will suffer horrible
consequences for our lawbreaking. It is very risky to actively resist
unbridled power. It is especially risky to go public with resistance
(unless hundreds of thousands publicly join us), and it becomes riskier the
closer we get to tyranny. For that reason, among many others, I would never
recommend any particular course of action to anyone - and I hope you'll
think twice before taking "advice" from anybody about things that could
jeopardize your life or well-being. But if we don't resist in the best ways
we know how, and if a good number of us don't resist loudly and publicly -
all of us will suffer the much worse consequences of living under total
oppression.
And whatever courses of action we choose, we must remember that this
legislative "revolution" against We the People will not be stopped by
politeness. It will not be stopped by requests. It will not be stopped by
"working within a system" governed by those who regard us as nothing but
cattle. It will not be stopped by pleading for justice from those who will
resort to any degree of trickery or violence to rule us.
It will not be stopped unless we are willing to risk our lives, our
fortunes and our sacred honors to stop it. I think of the words of Winston
Churchill: "If you will not fight for the right when you can easily win
without bloodshed, if you will not fight when your victory will be sure and
not so costly, you may come to the moment when you will have to fight with
all the odds against you and only a precarious chance for survival. There
may be a worse case. You may have to fight when there is no chance of
victory, because it is better to perish than to live as slaves."
NOTES on the laws listed above:
1. (employee database) Welfare Reform Bill, HR 3734; became public law
104-193 on 8/22196; see section 453A.
2. (health care crimes) Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act
of 1996, HR 3103; became public law 104-191 on 8/21/96.
3. (asset confiscation for citizenship change) Same law as #2; see;
sections 511-513.
4., 5., and 6. (anti-gun laws) Omnibus Appropriations Act, HR 3610; became
public law 104-208 on 9/30/96.
7. and 8. (terrorism & secret trials) Antiterrorism and Effective Death
Penalty Act of 1996; S 735; became public law 104-132 on 4/24/96; see all
of Title III, specifically sections 302 and 219; also see all of Title IV,
specifically sections 401, 501, 502 and 503.
9. (de facto national ID card) Began life in the Immigration Control and
Financial Responsibility Act of 1996, sections III, II 8, 119, 127 and 133;
was eventually folded into the Omnibus Appropriations Act, HR 3610 (which
was itself formerly called the Defense Appropriations Act - but we wouldn't
want to confuse anyone, here, would we?); became public law 104-208 on
9/30/96; see sections 656 and 657 among others.
10. (health care database) Health Insurance Portability and Accountability
Act of 1996, HR 3103; became public law 104-191 on 8/21/96; see sections
262, 263 and 264, among others. The various provisions that make up the
full horror of this database are scattered throughout the bill and may take
hours to track down; this one is stealth legislation at its utmost
sneakiest.
And one final, final note: Although I spent aggravating hours verifying the
specifics of these bills (a task I swear I will never waste my life on
again!), the original list of bills at the top of this article was NOT the
result of extensive research. It was simply what came off the top of my
head when I thought of Big Brotherish bills from the 104th Congress. For
all I know, Congress has passed 10 times more of that sort of thing. In
fact, the worst "law" in the list --
#9, the de facto national ID card -- just came to my attention as I was
writing this essay, thanks to the enormous efforts of Jackie - Juntti and
Ed Lyon and others, who researched the law. Think of it: Thanks to
congressional stealth tactics, we had the long-dreaded national ID card
legislation for five months, without a whisper of discussion, before
freedom activists began to find out about it. Makes you wonder what else
might be lurking out there, doesn't it?
And on that cheery note - THE END
------------------------------------------------------------------------
[NOTE: And now a word from the author: ]
Dear Oral and Vigo Examiner:
Thank you very much for running "Land-Mine Legislation." I'm amazed
that, 15 months after I wrote it, "Land-Mine" still reaches people. I
must, however, correct a couple of errors in the list of ten bad laws
that opens the piece. When I wrote the essay, a lot of this info was
just coming out, and in my haste to meet a deadline I didn't get all
my "ts" crossed properly.
First, on the hundred pages of new "health care crimes" (item 2): Just
before the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996
(HR 3103) was passed, some of those proposed new crimes were removed.
The stripped-down version of the bill still defines new "health care
crimes" -- just fewer than 100 pages of them.
More important, in item 9, about the national ID drivers license, the
language I quoted is *not* that of the law that was passed. Here is
the correct text:
"Public Law 104-208, Division C, Title VI, Subtitle D, Section 656
reads:
IMPROVEMENTS IN IDENTIFICATION-RELATED DOCUMENTS(b)(1)(A)
...A Federal agency may not accept for any identification-related
purpose a drivers' license, or other comparable identification
document, issued by a State, unless the license or document satisfies
the following requirements.
(ii) Social security number.--Except as provided in subparagraph (B),
the license or document shall contain a social security account number
that can be read visually or by electronic means.
(iii) Form.--The license or document otherwise shall be in a form
consistent with requirements set forth in regulations promulgated by
the Secretary of Transportation after consultation with the American
Association of Motor Vehicle Administrators. The form shall contain
security features designed to limit tampering, counterfeiting,
photocopying, or otherwise duplicating the license...
(NOTE: The "exception" listed in subparagraph (B) is no exception at
all. It simply says that the state can choose not to print your SSN on
the face of the card -- as long as it keeps the number in a database
tied to the license.)
Land-Mine was written at a time when the stealth provisions of many of
these laws were first being discovered. In particular, I added the
drivers license item at the last minute, just before shipping the
essay. Unable to locate details of the legislation on the Thomas web
site, I went with erroneous information I'd received via e-mail. My
apologies for that. (The text of the final bill can't be found under
the bill number, HR 3610, but only under the conference committee
report number, 104-863 or the law number 104-208.)
The national drivers license ID is draconian and should be resisted
with every ounce of our strength, but it is not YET as sweeping as I
indicated. But lets keep our eyes open. In practice, laws tend to get
a lot worse than they are on paper.
Speaking of laws getting worse...A few months after "Land-Mine" came
out, someone furiously called me on item 10, insisting that the
"health care database" I decried was nothing but federally defined
"transmission standards." Well, yes, that's what the legislation calls
for -- one set of federally-mandated standards for the electronic
transmission of all health care data, with a "unique identifying
number" for each patient and each practicioner. In practice, whether
the data resides on one computer or two dozen, that's constitutes a
federal database, with all data in one format, accessible to the
federal bureaucrats designing the system. (The legislation even states
explicitly that all the belongs to the federal government and anyone
it chooses to share the info with -- not to you, not to your doctor,
not to your insurance company.) However, the language of the law
carefully avoided using any scary words implying one, big central
database, controlled by nosy bureaucrats.
Well, the Secretary of Health and Human Services issued her proposed
rule last month -- and one of the proposals under consideration is,
you guessed it, one huge federal database. It really doesn't matter,
though. Your privacy is totally gone, however many computers store the
data. You'll find the proposed rule, in all it's nauseating "glory"
at:
http://aspe.os.dhhs.gov/admnsimp/nprm/regindex.htm
<sigh> I repeatedly find that, in practice, the federal government
consistently exceeds my most dire predictions and deepest fears.
One last note: Anyone reposting "Land-Mine" should know that "Legasy
(sic) or Legacy of the Republican Revolution" is an editor's intro,
not part of the title. I point this out only because "Land-Mine" has
been re-titled so many times by so many people that some readers are
getting confused -- and it's a bit crazy-making for me to get messages
saying, "I read your essay 'Blankety-Blank' " -- which turns out to be
some name I've never heard of!
Many thanks, and my best to all who refuse to give up freedom for
security.
Claire Wolfe
Copyrighted by Claire Wolfe. Permission to reprint freely granted, provided
the article is reprinted in full and that any reprint is accompanied by
this copyright statement.
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