Undocumented citizens

I have not been able to renew my driver's license, which expires soon, because the State of Oregon wants documents from me that I haven't needed before, and I have had to send off for them. Specifically, since I changed my name when I married, I must buy a copy of my marriage record from the state, to show how I got from my birth certificate name to my married name.

"Just be glad you've only been married once," the DMV clerk told me the other day, as we shuffled through the documents I could scurry up, in (vain) hopes they'd fill the bill. "Some folks have to prove how they got from one name to the next to the next to the next."

I did not have to sign the form I sent off, which struck me as odd. Later I found I could have, if I'd wanted, spent more and made my request online. I also see online where the state is no longer issuing driver's licenses over the counter, because it has gone to face recognition technology. Oh joy. In hopes of scaring off a few terrorists and con men, we all get to be treated like criminals, and have our mugs on file with the government, incorporating the latest technological means of identifying and keeping track of people. (The Department of Homeland Security begs to reassure us, however.)

My father-in-law is not well. I might have to travel a few hundred miles to help my mother-in-law. If I don't have my marriage record when it comes my turn to help (the family's working in shifts), I can either surrender my current license and get a temporary one with no photo, or I can take my license with me and let it expire and depend on others to drive me around. Oh joy. I can be without photo ID, which has foreseeable difficulties, or I can be without a driver's license, with has an entirely different set of foreseeable difficulties. I don't even want to know about the unforeseeable difficulties. If there's a way to renew from another state, I haven't found it yet. (There are a loopholes, but none I can jump through, as far as I can see.)

I am, of course, hoping that somehow I will be properly documented in time. I am trying hard to resist popping off Comrade jokes when I make it back to the Department of Motor Vehicles office and try again. I am in my 50s. I remember when government wasn't so all-fire intrusive. Or expensive. Or big. Or bothersome.

For that matter, I like to read old books. It has not escaped my attention that old books describe a world in which governments in the United States operated, for the most part, within fences they have since busted through.

So, I was at the post office late last week, and in front of me, a woman was asking the postal clerk the best way to send a passport to her son. 'Where's he going?' the clerk asked, being a friend. 'He's not traveling anywhere. He got a job, and he's got to prove he's an American citizen. He's already got the job, but...'

Whereupon the clerk said that she'd just had to fork over $50 for a certified birth certificate for her son, who needed it to stay in college.

Whereupon I mentioned my document woes, and how the certificate issued at the wedding wasn't good enough (which is a moot point for me, because for the life of me I haven't been able to find it), and I'd had to send off $20 for the paper demanded of me.

Whereupon, with another person joining in, we jointly wondered whether the new requirements were mostly about finding a new way to rake in money from the citizenry...

I don't believe that. Not that it's the primary reason, at any rate. But I'd love to see the tallies on revenue generated at the Vital Records departments of this country, listed year by year. I'm almost willing to bet they're becoming cash cows, compared to what they used to be.

Anyway, if you live in Oregon, and are a married lady and not a feminist, you might want to plan ahead. The certificate signed after the ceremony won't help you a bit, apparently. You must buy a copy of whatever got filed with the state where you got married. In Oregon, it costs you $20 for one copy, unless you want rush delivery, which you do online and which costs you $32.50. Such a deal. I don't know how much it costs to get records from other states. I'm hoping they won't take advantage of the new rules and raise the rates. I can see some state officials doing that. "Hey, look! People have to prove how they got from one name to another now. There's no way out of it if they want to drive or have official photo ID. Heh! We got 'em now, boy! Whoo-hoo!"

Yes, I am feeling a bit cynical this afternoon. Why do you ask?

Assaults on British identity and pride

Melanie Phillips asks What's the point of citizenship classes when we've already surrendered our national identity? (Daily Mail, March 10, 2008).

Well, no, the headline writer at the newspaper probably came up with that bit. On her website, the same article is entitled Britain's broken heart.

In any case, it's worth a read. The government in the UK is discussing ways to improve a sense of belonging, but Phillips thinks some of the ministers have some of their arguments backwards.

Considering freedom

Via Bookworm Room, Richard Disney showcases a 1948 cartoon which educates against "ISM." (That would be the snake oil -isms peddled by those utopians who promise great things in exchange for freedom.) The video is between nine and ten minutes long.

Over at the New York Times, Jeffrey Rosen provides a review of the new book Freedom for the Thought That We Hate: A Biography of the First Amendment by Anthony Lewis.

If you didn't follow the link the other day in the Thermostat Policing post, I'd like to highlight the end of Don Boudreaux's Rampaging Regulators post:

I quote again the final lines of Thomas Sowell's greatest book: Knowledge and Decisions:

[Freedom] is, above all, the right of ordinary people to find elbow room for themselves and a refuge from the rampaging presumptions of their "betters."

The link inside the above quote takes you to a May 2004 Cafe Hayek post, which has the quote coupled with the sentence which leads into it:

Freedom is not simply the right of intellectuals to circulate their merchandise. It is, above all, the right of ordinary people to find elbow room for themselves and a refuge from the rampaging presumptions of their “betters.”

Hear! Hear!

BTW: Boudreaux has a follow up post to Rampaging Regulators.

Mississippi moves forward, without much media attention

Don't you hate it when you realize that the news media has got you trained almost as well as Pavlov trained his dogs? And yet, here I am... say Hurricane Katrina and probably 99% of the time the first thought in my head is New Orleans. Shame on me. I resolve to change that. See the blog post The State Which Must Not Be Named for news out of Mississippi, which, of course, got hard hit (that's an understatement), but which hasn't been whining like the media darlings of Louisiana. Kudos to Mississippi.

hat tip: Bookworm

Added: The blogger who wrote "The State Which Must Not Be Named" has several other good Katrina-related posts. I've been browsing through the archives here. If you're interested on "man on the ground" reporting and commentary, you might want to check it out.

Book note: Compassion, Justice and the Christian Life by Robert Lupton

I haven't seen the book yet, but if this interview of the author by Marvin Olasky ("City Smarts," World Magazine, June 9, 2007) is any indication, Lupton's a man well worth listening to. He's learned the hard way what types of charity tend to make things worse, just for starters.

Lupton has spent more than 35 years working with inner city poor in Atlanta.

I highly recommend the article.

What I can't get over is how closely Lupton's experiences seem to parallel the experiences of Edgar James Helms, the founder of Goodwill Industries, and, to a lesser extent, Donald L. Carcieri, who went from serving as program director for Catholic Relief Services in Jamaica to being the governor of Rhode Island.

hat tip: Zoe Sandvig

No, I didn't know May Day was Law Day...

... in the United States. Did you?

See the Lou Dobbs' commentary A peculiar day for immigration rallies - CNN.com for the story. Mr. Dobbs clearly isn't happy about what happened this year for May Day, or what's happening in this country regarding illegal immigration, with all its attendant problems.

He issues a call to action for law-abiding citizens, including all those folks who are patiently going through, or have gone through, the process of becoming a United States citizen. Mr. Dobbs suggests "that we celebrate Law Day with a great national enthusiasm next May 1" and adds "I guarantee you I'll march in that demonstration." Good for him. Not that I'm much of a demonstrations person, but if we're going to have them by all means let's have them for honorable causes.

Do you know what else I'd like to see for May Day? When I was a child (not that many decades ago, thanks) May Day was a day for dancing around a maypole and picking flowers and giving baskets of them to friends. In school we made paper flowers and put them into paper baskets which we also made ourselves. A friend told me that for May Day girls in his neighborhood hung bouquets of flowers on the doorknobs of front doors, rang the bell, and ran away -- so they could have the fun of giving a gift anonymously. In addition to Mr. Dobbs' very good suggestion, could we perhaps also reclaim May Day as a day for that sort of innocent and generous activity? Admittedly it's the sort of holiday that appeals to girls more than boys, but honestly, it's a great holiday for girls. And maypole dancing is an art. Don't let anyone tell you it isn't. :)

hat tip: Rush Limbaugh

A Gathering of Eagles

There will be a gathering of people in Washington D.C. on March 17 to stand silent guard at war memorials threatened by anti-war protesters. This is to be a non-confrontational, nonviolent, nonpartisan effort done out of respect for the memorials and for the people honored by them, with the goal being to defend, not attack. Apparently anybody who agrees with the mission and is willing to play by the rules is invited to participate in person, or in spirit (by signing a petition). Anna has more info and links.